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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29663862">AlterMyth</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elias_Pedro/pseuds/Elias_Pedro'>Elias_Pedro</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Hololive, Virtual Streamer Animated Characters</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Adventure, Alternative Universe - Hololive, Atlantis, Catharsis, Characters will be introduced, Daydreaming, Death and Rebirth, F/F, France (Country), Hugs, If EnMa never showed up, Inspired by Hololive Alternative, Kaiju, Letters, London, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Mystery, RMS Teutonic, Research Project, Slice of Life, Slow Build, TeeTee, Uncle Dr. Watson, University, Victorian era, gunfights, vivid dreams</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-05-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 23:01:14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>41,020</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29663862</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elias_Pedro/pseuds/Elias_Pedro</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Young Amelia Watson, bored by the idyll monotony of her life in the British countryside, always longed for an adventure. Her chance to change her fate was supposed to come when a mysterious letter with a blue, triangle-shaped seal arrived at her home, but that adventure with ‘HoloMyth’ never materialized.</p><p>So, instead, Amelia’s life in Victorian England carried on uninterrupted - for a little while longer, at least. After all, for those who have been destined to become Myths, adventure is never truly far away!</p><p>(Inspired by the upcoming Hololive Alternative universe!)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Gawr Gura/Ninomae Ina'nis/Watson Amelia, Gawr Gura/Watson Amelia (hololive), Mori Calliope/Takanashi Kiara, Ninomae Ina'nis/Watson Amelia (hololive)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>169</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>259</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. A Chance Encounter</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hello everyone!</p><p>Sorry to disappoint you but I am not YAGOO - nor am I affiliated with Hololive Productions - but I am writing to celebrate one of the many things that helped get me through 2020: HoloMyth! Hololive English - or whatever you want to call it. If you are a fan of Hololive and have already fallen into the rabbit hole like me, then welcome! I'm writing this work for you folks. If you haven't fallen into the rabbit hole yet - don't worry. I'll do my best to guide you through this journey too!</p><p>So strap yourselves in - we're going on an adventure!</p><p>The five girls of Holomyth weren't always working for Hololive Productions and COVER Corp. They were hired by COVER Corp. managers who tested their abilities, conducted their auditions, onboarded them and whatnot. But what if something happened during that onboarding process? What if the managers failed to recruit the HoloMyth quintet?</p><p>This is the story of that twist of fate - and the consequences of that failure.</p><p>An alternate timeline.</p><p>AlterMyth!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <b>Prologue</b>
</p><p> </p><p>‘The world is full of wonderful myths. You just have to know where to look.’</p><p>That was the earnest truth that the young Amelia Watson held deep in her heart. As the blond girl sank in the warm, steamy waters of her bath, she closed her sky blue eyes and let her mind wander.</p><p>She heard the water sloshing in her tub and then let that sound whisk her away from the mundane world of reality that she lived in. The darkness behind her eyelids transformed into a magnificent seascape that surrounded her. That scene was adorned with the myriad of sea creatures, corals and underwater plants that she had read about in books. Black-and-white illustrations that she had seen on the pages before transcended ink and parchment and now bloomed with color and moved with lives of their own.</p><p>Before long, Amelia herself donned the armored suit of a deep sea diver with a caged fishbowl helmet, bringing a smile to the young girl’s lips. She was surrounded by fish of all kinds and colors that swam around her like the constellations of stars in the night sky. Every time that Amelia dove into the ocean of her mind, the plants and the creatures and the underwater landscapes were different to some degree.</p><p>However, there was always a specific figure that appeared without fail: a friendly, great blue shark - about half the size of a sloop of Her Majesty Queen Victoria’s navy.</p><p>Sometimes, the shark showed Amelia something that she had never seen before. Other times, Amelia raced the shark through the dark blue depths. Then, from time to time, they went into some shipwrecks where they watched silent motion pictures from the Americas on projectors that somehow worked underwater. Every single time, though, the shark was Amelia’s trusty companion and never once left her side.</p><p>That evening, after a brief race around an old shipwreck, the shark turned Amelia’s way and seemed to say her name.</p><p>“Amelia. Amelia!”</p><p>‘The shark can speak?’ Amelia thought with a twinkle of amazement in her eyes, ‘Even though it’s so cute and dumb-looking!’</p><p>The shark then opened its mouth and repeated with more urgency,</p><p>“Amelia! AMELIA!”</p><p>That last call finally pulled Amelia out from the eye of her mind and returned her to reality. The majestic seascape that she had been swimming in reverted back into the confines of her bathtub. The deep sea diving suit likewise fizzled away, leaving Amelia naked in the water.</p><p>The voice that called her out also turned out to be the voice of her mother - not the trusty blue shark that accompanied her in her dreams. The door of her large bathroom swung open and Amelia’s mother, Mrs. Watson, thundered inside with a scowl on her face.</p><p>“Amelia Watson! How many times do I have to call you before you answer me!?” Mrs. Watson started as she tapped the tiled bathroom floor with her feet, “And how long do you plan to stay in the bathtub? Your skin is going to get wrinkly!”</p><p>Amelia pouted at her mother and lowered her head halfway into the water as she muttered,</p><p>“But I was just enjoying myself…”</p><p>The young girl’s words were distorted as they rose up from her submerged mouth to the surface in bubbles. Mrs. Watson folded her arms and considered scolding her strange daughter again, but she eventually decided against it.</p><p>Instead, Mrs. Watson folded her arms and ordered,</p><p>“When you’re done turning yourself into a prune, Amelia, go fetch the mail while I finish preparing supper. I believe the postman came by a little while ago. Also - make sure your luggage is packed for tomorrow! Understood?”</p><p>“Yes mom…” Amelia answered obediently, albeit halfheartedly.</p><p>Mrs. Watson sighed and left her daughter alone, closing the bathroom door.</p><p>Now alone once more, Amelia carefully got out of the bathtub but stole one last longing glance at the water. She imagined the face of that friendly shark who always accompanied her in her baths and bid it farewell.</p><p>“Bye bye, sharkie.” Amelia whispered as she pulled the plug to drain the water.</p><p>With that, Amelia finished up in the bathroom, donned her in her pyjamas and slippers, lit a candle lantern and then hurried outside the Watson household to fetch the mail. She opened up the bright red postbox by the road and retrieved two letters from within.</p><p>Amelia looked at the letters under the light of her candle lamp and then tilted her head. The both of them were addressed to her!</p><p>She took both letters straight into her room and then sat down at her desk with growing excitement. The first letter was from her uncle, the esteemed Dr. Watson who was returning home from a long trip overseas. The second letter, however, was a mysterious envelope sealed with blue ink in the shape of a triangle.</p><p>Beneath that blue triangle, Amelia read the words.</p><p>“An opportunity of a lifetime awaits. HoloMyth?”</p><p>Amelia mulled over the letter under the candlelight for a good minute or so, thinking hard about what the odd message meant. She had spent all her life hoping to find those myths that lived just beyond the eye of her mind.</p><p>Little did she know that by breaking that triangle-shaped seal, she was starting her journey to become a myth herself.</p>
<hr/><p>
  <b>AlterMyth</b>
</p><p>
  <em>A Chance Encounter </em>
</p>
<hr/><p>
  <b>First Scene - Threepence Detour</b>
</p><p> </p><p>It was an unusually sunny day when Amelia Watson set off from her countryside home to London. Amelia, clad in a warm, tan overcoat over her white shirt, tie and plaid brown skirt, donned her ribbon-tipped hat and then picked up her large luggage trunk with both hands. She brought her trunk outside the Watson household and let a smartly-dressed chauffeur help her load it onto the back of an enclosed, horse-drawn carriage that was bound for the British capital.</p><p>The Watson family, consisting of her mother, father and older brother, gathered at the front yard of their home soon afterward to see Amelia off.</p><p>“Don’t forget to visit your uncle John in his office today.” Mrs. Watson added as she adjusted her daughter’s collar and straightened her red tie one last time, “And please be in your best behaviour!”</p><p>“Yes mom…” Amelia answered reflexively, albeit filtering her mother’s nagging to some degree. After all, she had already arranged to visit her renowned relative, Dr. John H. Watson, in London months ago.</p><p>Amelia was a sophomore student in a certain college in London where Dr. Watson was a primary sponsor as well as one of the key lecturers. Her brief, albeit relaxing Spring Break had just come to an end, so she reluctantly had to move back to her dormitory closer to the school.</p><p>At least, that was the official plan.</p><p>Once the Watson family had said their goodbyes, Amelia hopped into the carriage, closed the door and sank into the cushioned seat. Then, as the carriage started to move, Amelia knocked on the chauffeur’s window and asked him to drop her off somewhere else instead.</p><p>She wanted to go to a small, hole-in-the-wall coffeehouse that the blue-triangle sealed envelope had mentioned: the ‘English Maiden Café’. Thankfully, it wasn’t too far from her dormitory and from Dr. Watson’s office, so the chauffeur agreed to the change in plans - in exchange for a couple of bronze threepences.</p><p>With her new destination set, Amelia leaned back into her cushioned seat and looked out the screen window of the carriage to take in the sights. The British countryside in the early spring was lush green and shimmered with the morning new under the unusually bright sun. That scene spurred Amelia’s wild imagination again as she held the letter with the broken blue seal in hand.</p><p>“HoloMyth… HoloMyth…” Amelia repeated as she looked out the window.</p><p>Just saying those words made her normal routine journey all the more wonderful. When she saw a cute puppy sitting obediently outside the door of a village bakery, she brewed up a myth for the scene. She imagined that the puppy worked there at the bakery part time for a bone or a croissant. Then, when the village cat sauntered over, the watchful puppy rolled over on its back and wagged its fluffy tail.</p><p>The two of them must be good friends, Amelia quietly thought with a smile on her lips. She had to stop herself from telling the chauffeur to stop so that she could pet them. Instead, she just bid the friendly cat and dog farewell through the window of the carriage.</p><p>Past the town, the road cut through rolling hills and meadows where a herd of white bunny rabbits hopped together through the grass like bouncing snowballs while a white fox and a black wolf stalked them from a distance. The bleating of sheep caught Amelia’s attention next, followed by the frantic quacking of ducks swimming in a nearby pond and the unmistakable smell of onions and garlic starting to sprout in the nearby field.</p><p>On the canvas of that peaceful meadow, Amelia couldn’t help but imagine a female knight and her half-elf companion strolling through the scene. The happy couple stopped to chat with a friendly lion that acted more like a domestic housecat than a ferocious beast. Then, they were guided by a pretty, winged angel around a majestic sleeping dragon - so as not to disturb its slumber.</p><p>There had to be a world like that somewhere, Amelia mused, where the people and creatures she saw in her daydreams existed. She held that blue-sealed letter close to her heart and hoped that it was all true.</p><p>Then, all of the sudden, the meadow was claimed by the busy, bustling cobblestone streets of the outskirts of London. The vast fields and hills were replaced by the new suburban towns connected to London by the burgeoning railroad system. The buildings gradually grew taller and were built much more closely together as well. Then, the carriage rattled briefly as it went off the dirt road and onto the cobblestone, bringing Amelia back into reality - much to her disappointment.</p><p>Thankfully, it wasn’t long before the horse carriage finally came to a halt. Amelia had arrived at her destination that morning.</p><p>The English Maiden Café.</p>
<hr/><p>
  <b>Second Scene - Of Tea And Tomes</b>
</p><p> </p><p>Amelia paid the chauffeur his due, retrieved her truck from the back of the carriage and then walked into the English Maiden Café with high expectations. She took a seat by the window, sipped on a hot cup of tea and nibbled on some cookies as she waited patiently for the person who sent the blue-sealed letter.</p><p>She was supposedly waiting for a black-haired lady with a single cowlick standing out. The lady would have had red eyes and she would have worn black-rimmed glasses, black pantaloons with a matching black coat and a lapel pin of a blue triangle - just like the seal on the mysterious letter.</p><p>Aside from the physical details of this oddly-dressed person, however, Amelia didn’t know what to expect. After all, if Dr. Watson was second fiddle to the great detective Sherlock Holmes, young Amelia Watson felt like she wasn’t even in the orchestra.</p><p>Minutes of waiting turned to hours, however, as Amelia’s anxiety to meet this person turned into frustration. She had already read through all of the newspapers that the English Maiden had to offer - even the tabloids - and soon had her sky blue eyes fixed on the hands of her golden pocket watch.</p><p>Her cup of tea, which she had been nursing slowly for her chance encounter, was growing cold and the plate of snacks that she had ordered for sharing was now almost depleted. The quaint charm of the English Maiden that had captivated her when she first stepped in started to fade too.</p><p>So, when the clock struck twelve - and the bells of Big Ben chimed in the distance - Amelia got up from her seat, paid for her tea and snacks and headed out of the café. She left with her luggage in tow and a cloud hanging over her head on that supposedly cloudless day.</p><p>A shadow hung over Amelia’s eyes as she lowered her ribbon-topped hat and walked through the streets of London with her luggage. She dragged her feet through the cobblestone roads and very nearly stepped on a pile of horse dung that the street-sweepers had yet to clean up. Her mind was, once again, elsewhere after all.</p><p>She was wondering why the letter writer didn’t show up.</p><p>Perhaps it was written by a swindler who got caught by Scotland Yard, Amelia told herself. That illusion, however, didn’t cheer up the young girl much though. She would have enjoyed herself much more if she had been the one to catch the swindler in the act. That feat would have been worthy of praise from Dr. Watson or Mr. Holmes - or it would have made for a good story she could have told to her family in her next letter home.</p><p>Instead, in that lonesome daze, Amelia eventually found her way to the front door of Dr. Watson’s office. She opened the door and stepped into the foyer where an older secretary or attendant from the medical practice would have been waiting.</p><p>This time, however, there was a young girl that was about Amelia’s age seated behind the reception counter. The young girl had long black hair that was characteristic of people from the Far East and the Orient, but she didn’t have a cowlick like the blue-sealed letter described. The rest of her features were hidden behind a book titled ‘Centuries of Death and Rebirth: A Treatise on the <em> Gallus Herodotus </em> Phoenix’.</p><p>The girl behind the counter was so engrossed in her book that she didn’t even seem to notice that Amelia had entered the foyer and was watching her. Moreover, the girl regularly mused to no one in particular as she turned the pages of the imposingly niche tome.</p><p>“<em> Humu, humu </em>… I see...”</p><p>Amelia dared to take a step forward to call the young girl’s attention, but her footstep - weighted with her heavy luggage - made the floorboards of the foyer creak. That noise made the reading girl gasp and brush her tome away from the counter in a hurry as she panicked.</p><p>“W-ah!?” The flustered girl’s dark purple eyes met with Amelia’s sky blue. She struggled to remember her role and hastily stammered, “W-welcome to the of-ffice of D-Dr. John H. Watson. H-how may I help you?”</p><p>Amelia laughed uncomfortably and then answered, “Ah, I’m Amelia Watson - Dr. Watson’s niece. I’m here to see my uncle. Sorry for startling you!”</p><p>The girl, however, shook her head and apologized, “I’m the one w-who should apologize. I, uh... w-wasn’t paying attention.”</p><p>“That’s fine. I get lost in my imagination quite a bit myself~!” Amelia answered with a warm smile, “Are you new here?”</p><p>“Ah, yes!” The girl replied with a little bit more enthusiasm, “My name is Ninomae Ina’nis… I mean, Ina’nis Ninomae! N-Ninomae is my family name, you see. I’m transferring into the nearby college and Dr. Watson hired me to help me pay my tuition.”</p><p>“I see~! That means we’re going to be schoolmates, huh?” Amelia beamed at Ina’nis, before she stopped to hum thoughtfully, “But Miss Ina’nis… hmm… do you mind if I call you ‘Ina’?”</p><p>Ina’nis lowered her head and blushed from cheek to cheek. Coming from the Far East, she wasn’t used to being called by her first name - let alone a nickname. However, the bright smile of the blond-haired girl gave that nickname a nice ring.</p><p>“Ina… is fine.” Ina finally answered with a smile, “Please call me ‘Ina’ if you wish. It’s nice to meet you.”</p><p>With that, Amelia set down her luggage and extended her hand towards Ina. The two of them shook hands and the clouds that had hung over Amelia’s eyes faded away.</p><p>
  <b>To Be Continued</b>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Righto, time for some housekeeping. In the worlds of Hideo Kojima: 'did you like it?' Hehe.</p><p>I'm pretty open when it comes to comments and criticism. I hope to publish my own original works someday, so I appreciate hearing the honest thoughts of readers. Every little bit of feedback helps me to hone my skills after all - and I'll be able to deliver a better quality story for your enjoyment! Win-win, eh?</p><p>That said, I do try to keep up the quality here. I spent a lot of time storyboarding and self-editing and I have a friend beta-read for me from time to time too, but things will always slip through the cracks. If you find something, let me know and I'll fix it!</p><p>Production-wise, I am trying to write faster without sacrificing quality. It's a pain - but I live by Calli's words of tough love. Gotta be ready to be swinging till the night falls~ I will commit to this: three chapters every month. Sounds good? Yea?</p><p>Great, we'll get along just fine!</p><p>That's all for now - cheers!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Across The Pond</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <b>Prologue</b>
</p><p> </p><p>The office of the renowned Dr. John H. Watson was one of the few places that Amelia truly loved in London. It was a two story building of brick walls, handsome wooden floors and copper roofs that were gradually turning from warm bronze to elegant pale green. At first glance, the office was similar to most of the newer buildings that had been appearing all around the British Capital. Moreover, as a small medical practice, the office carried a stale and stodgy air that permeated through most of its rooms.</p><p>One room, however, was exempt from that dull fate and stoked Amelia’s lively imagination: the private study of Dr. Watson himself.</p><p>That day, Amelia entered that study together with the clerk Ina. The young Watson felt like she was stepping through a portal into another world. Ina, on the other hand, tensed up as she entered the private realm of her boss. While the study was made of the same wooden floors and brick walls that would have bored Amelia to tears, the room was sprinkled with various trinkets and unusual furniture from Dr. Watson’s many travels.</p><p>In one corner, there was a glass-cased, flat meteorite fragment from Egypt that supposedly broke off from a comet that sailed past the stars of Ursa Minor and sang as it hurtled down to the earth. Not far from that case was a wooden rack with a curious hooded tunic that was claimed to have been worn by Vlad III Dracula, the infamous impaler from Transylvania.</p><p>Draped on the wall was a tattered Jolly Roger flag that hung over a model galleon. That galleon was flanked by a framed collection of unusual preserved green butterflies and an ornate jester’s hat that had been gifted to Dr. Watson from a traveling circus company.</p><p>The only true semblance of London stodginess that remained was the prominent portrait of Queen Victoria looking on from above the mantle of the fireplace. Nearly everything else seemed to have been oddities that simply would have been out of place in Dr. Watson’s Baker Street flat. Nonetheless, those oddities transformed the private study into a tiny museum of the world that Amelia wholeheartedly adored.</p><p>Since Amelia only visited that office every other year, there was always something new in Dr. Watson’s growing collection to greet her. True enough, Amelia eventually found the new addition to the curious collection: a figure of a blue-feathered bird. Amelia hummed a lively tune as she picked up the bird to have a closer look without hesitation - causing the newcomer clerk Ina to nearly have a heart attack. </p><p>The double doors of the study then opened behind them, causing Ina to fret even more. Amelia cradled the bird in her arms without turning around as she knowingly greeted the person who entered the room,</p><p>“Hey, uncle Watson. What’s this new thing you brought back? It’s cute!”</p><p>Ina turned around, hoping to apologize for Amelia randomly picking things up in the study room, but Dr. Watson smiled warmly.</p><p>“That, my dear, is a sculpture of a peafowl - an exotic bird indeed!” Dr. Watson explained, speaking with the poise of a well-traveled Victorian gentleman, “She is made of porcelain and lapis lazuli and was crafted in the Dutch East Indies. I had a feeling that you might enjoy it, young Amelia. After all - your second favourite colour is blue!”</p><p>Amelia finally turned around and grinned at her uncle. The two of them then shared a hearty laugh, putting the frightened Ina at ease. The clerk then started to give Dr. Watson and Amelia a deep, servantile bow that she was more accustomed to, but she caught herself and proceeded to do a courteous curtsy instead.</p><p>“Please excuse me. I shall go make tea for two.” Ina announced as she made for the door, “I will prepare lunch for the two of you as well before I return to my post.”</p><p>“Please, do make it tea and lunch for three, Miss Ninomae.” Dr. Watson warmly countered, “We would like it if you joined us for lunch. As they say: the more the merrier. Is that not right, Amelia?”</p><p>“Yeah!” Amelia nodded eagerly as she hugged the peafowl, “Let’s have lunch together, Ina.”</p><p>Flustered, Ina bowed deeply instead of curtsying and left the door to fetch their lunch. Once they were alone, Dr. Watson turned to Amelia and spoke.</p><p>“I see the two of you are already acquainted.” Dr. Watson chuckled and twirled his short moustache as he lectured, “In the Far East, where Miss Ninomae is originally from, addressing someone by their first name means that you are already close to that person. You have even gone so far as to make a nickname for her too.”</p><p>“Ahaha~ is that so? I, uh, didn’t know that.” Amelia laughed with growing discomfort, “Well, Ina didn’t… I guess she didn’t mind too much.”</p><p>“That is true.” Dr. Watson concurred, “In any case, young Amelia, I would like you to continue to get along with Miss Ninomae. Her English may be impeccable, but the shock of culture is not limited to language alone. Having a friend might help her feel more at home here in London.”</p><p>Amelia’s expression brightened up when she heard this and her bright blue eyes seemed to twinkle with delight. She then stood up with her back straight and gave Dr. Watson, a former surgeon of the British Army, a sharp salute as she promised,</p><p>“I won’t let you down, uncle Watson!”</p><p>Dr. Watson smiled and returned the salute, “I will be counting on you, Amelia.”</p><hr/><p>
  <b>AlterMyth</b>
</p><p>Across The Pond</p><hr/><p>
  <b>Third Scene - Sketchbook</b>
</p><p> </p><p>Two days later, on the first day of the new semester, a sleepy Amelia, clad in the blue cardigan, red tie, tartan skirt and brown loafers of her college, managed to find her way from her dormitory to the campus grounds. She passed through the handsome wrought iron gate that bore the campus name, Occidental College for Young Ladies, and cut through the main quadrangle in a hurry.</p><p>Half a dozen small brick buildings with ornate copper roofs, refurbished remains of a trans-Atlantic shipping company that had gone bankrupt less than a decade ago, surrounded the quadrangle but Amelia paid them no attention. Under the overcast skies of London, the already stodgy buildings lost whatever little appeal they had left in Amelia’s eyes.</p><p>Cradling her books for the morning class in hand, Amelia avoided the crowds and made a beeline for the lecture hall at the heart of the campus. All the while, her sky blue eyes regularly scanned her surroundings and her ears listened to the myriad of voices in the quadrangle.</p><p>Thankfully, she managed to reach the lecture hall without any incident and she heaved a sigh of relief. Amelia entered the hall and gravitated to her favorite seat in the room: an inconspicuous nook at the back corner of the hall that was beside one of the many windows. That corner was her quiet sanctum where she was far away from the gaze of most lecturers, allowing her to laze away, read a leisurely magazine or catch a few winks of sleep after a night of playing chess or cards.</p><p>When Amelia arrived to claim her sanctum, however, she soon found that someone had already beaten her to her favorite spot: the clerk Ina’nis Ninomae who was wearing the same uniform as her.</p><p>The girl from the Far East was looking out the window as she sat as her dark purple eyes seemed to search for something beyond the glass. Amelia stole a glance outside the window and saw a beautiful, albeit solitary willow tree at the heart of the quadrangle’s small garden.</p><p>“Good morning, Ina.” Amelia greeted as she approached, “What’cha looking at?”</p><p>“W-wah!” Ina piped up yet again.</p><p>The clerk was surprised by Amelia’s voice once again, but she wasn’t as startled as when they first met. Instead, Ina gingerly lowered her head.</p><p>“Oh, Amelia.” Ina revealed with a voice that was barely stronger than a whisper, “I was just… getting references for my sketches. I like… drawing, you see.”</p><p>“Ooh, you’re an artist?” Amelia gasped as her sky blue eyes sparkled with amazement, “Can I see your drawings? Well, if you don’t mind, that is!”</p><p>Sheepishly, Ina and reached into her school bag. She carefully searched through its contents and brought out a plain, garden-variety purple sketchpad. Ina’s sketchpad, however, was skillfully decorated with stylish patterns that had been drawn with a fountain pen.</p><p>Amelia sat beside Ina, took the sketchpad from her and then proceeded to thumb through the well-worn pages. Every page contained drawings of all sorts - from landscapes to portraits to still-life sketches. They were drawn using various pencils, crayons and pens, but every drawing was remarkably beautiful. It didn’t take Amelia long to realize that Ina had incredible talent.</p><p>When Amelia reached the last page, however, Ina’s face suddenly grew pale. The shy clerk snatched the sketchbook out of Amelia’s hands - but not before she caught a glimpse of the page.</p><p>It was a self-portrait of Ina herself, but something about the sketch was off. That Ina seemed to be wearing an odd tiara of some sort. The color of her foremost bangs of hair seemed to be lighter too and looked temptingly squishy. Furthermore, there seemed to be the beginnings of a halo that hovered above her head.</p><p>Was this how Ina saw herself, perhaps?</p><p>“T-that last sketch…” Ina started, bashfully holding her sketchbook close to her heart as she explained, “It’s not yet complete. I’m sorry.”</p><p>“Oh, I see.” Amelia backed off. The smile on her lips didn’t waver, however, as she proposed, “When it’s finished, I hope you’ll show it to me. You’re really talented, after all!”</p><p>“You think so?” Ina answered with growing confidence, “W-well… if it’s you… I’ll consider it. <em> Humu, humu </em>...”</p><p>“Great~! I’ll look forward to it, Ina!” Amelia replied with an even brighter smile than before.</p><p>The two girls continued to chat after that as the rest of their classmates trickled into the lecture hall. Soon enough, Dr. Watson himself entered the hall to begin his lecture.</p><p>Even though the class had started, however, a mild smile remained on Ina’s lips for the rest of the day.</p><hr/><p>
  <b>Fourth Scene - Neighbors</b>
</p><p> </p><p>After meeting again in the lecture hall, Ina and Amelia gradually built up a routine.</p><p>Whenever they had a class together, they met in the lecture hall half an hour before class and they would sit at the same corner by the window without fail. They would accompany each other to the restroom even if only one of them had to go. Then, when class was done, they would go together to the cafeteria for either lunch or dinner.</p><p>Days turned into weeks and the two girls started looking forward to the next time they would cross paths. Ina’s voice grew slightly stronger with every encounter with Amelia and her guarded tone relaxed into a friendly warmth. Before they knew it, Ina and Amelia became inseparable on campus. </p><p>During these times, the girls talked about a great many things. They started with mundane things like the weather and life in Britain, but they eventually shared more about themselves as they got comfortable with each other.</p><p>One night, after finishing their midterms for Dr. Watson’s class, the inseparable pair had dinner together in the cafeteria and chatted by the fireplace with cups of hot chamomile tea.</p><p>“When I was growing up in the countryside, I tried to become a detective of my village.” Amelia started with great pride and made gestures with her teacup, “Dr. Watson is my mother’s brother and I was envious that he got to work with the great Sherlock Holmes - and travel the world as he pleased too! Meanwhile, I'm stuck in boring old Bedfordshire when I'm not in school.”</p><p>“That sounds rough, Amelia. I know what it’s like to live under a shadow.” Ina sympathized in between bites of her cucumber sandwich, “How are your investigations then, Detective Watson?”</p><p>“Ahahaha~ not great. I’ll be honest.” Amelia laughed with growing discomfort as she set down her teacup, “My village is peaceful, so there’s hardly any crimes to be solved - not even a bicycle thief! Locked-door mysteries and murders most foul are out of the question. The yard of my house has nothing to do with Scotland - and my neighbor whose dad actually works for Scotland Yard hates my guts!”</p><p>Amelia heaved a sigh and then glumly continued, “Whenever I do get leads, they turn out to be hoaxes - and I’ve gotten into trouble with my neighbors more than once.”</p><p>Ina wore a complex expression when Amelia said this. Perhaps she wasn’t surprised that someone as reckless as Amelia would get into trouble even in a peaceful town.</p><p>“That’s probably why my family sends me off to college here in London under uncle Watson’s watch.” Amelia admitted with a halfhearted smile, “Uncle Watson says that I have the potential to be a great veterinarian or a marine biologist… but something deep inside me wants to solve mysteries like Uncle Watson and Sherlock Holmes, you know?”</p><p>“<em> Humu, humu </em>. I understand what you mean.” Ina nodded appreciatively and finished off her sandwich. She then picked up her teacup and looked at her reflection in the tea as she spoke, “Some dreams will never die. It’s good that you’re keeping your dreams alive, Amelia.”</p><p>“Hehehe~ I guess I can be pretty stubborn.” Amelia chuckled. Then, she turned to Ina with a bright smile, “What about you, Ina? Tell me about yourself too!”</p><p>“My father is a diplomat who works at my home country’s consulate in Ottawa - the capital of the Dominion of Canada.” Ina explained as she took a sip of tea, “He and Dr. Watson became friends in the golf course and we hosted your uncle at our house many times.”</p><p>“So that’s how the two of you met.” Amelia hummed as she took a sandwich this time, “And that’s why your English is really good too!”</p><p>“<em> Humu, humu </em>.” Ina nodded in agreement with a hint of pride in her voice. Then, she continued, “In any case, I always wanted to be a librarian. I believe there is a lot of ancient knowledge and wisdom hidden away in old books. When I told this to Dr. Watson, he said that this school can give me a strong librarian accreditation recognized throughout the Empire!”</p><p>“I guess uncle Watson would do that.” Amelia mused sympathetically. Her eyes then wandered to a portrait of Dr. Watson, so she wondered out loud, “If that’s the case though - why are you working at his medical practice then? You seem like a really smart person. Uncle Watson surely offered you a scholarship too!”</p><p>“Dr. Watson did offer me a full scholarship, yes. However, I couldn’t help but feel like I would be taking advantage of his kindness.” Ina admitted, pausing to take a sip of her chamomile tea, “That’s why I offered to work at the practice on top of being a student. This is my way of repaying Dr. Watson’s kindness.”</p><p>Ina then turned to Amelia and happily added, “And besides - working that clerk job was how I came to meet you, Ame!”</p><p>‘Ame?’</p><p>That was the first time that someone made a nickname for her, so Amelia was taken by surprise at first. Not to mention, it had a nice ring to it too. Ina realized her slip of the tongue too, making her cheeks flush red as she rushed to apologize. However, Amelia beat her to the punch and wholeheartedly accepted it with a smile,</p><p>“‘Ame’, huh? That’s a cute nickname you made for me, Ina. I like it, heeheehee~!”</p><p>“Y-you do?” Ina heaved a sigh of relief, “Thank goodness. I didn’t know how you would react to it. I thought that it might have been… Ina-propriate.”</p><p>When Ina said this, the table went silent. Ame blinked. Then, Ina followed suit.</p><p>Moments later, the two girls burst out in laughter. Once Ame managed to catch her breath, she turned to Ina with a smile.</p><p>“Say, Ina.” Ame proposed, “When summer break comes - do you want to go on a trip together? Outside of London, that is. There’s a lot more to see outside this big, smoggy city after all!”</p><p>Ina’s dark purple eyes seemed to sparkle and she nodded eagerly. The two girls then started chatting about what plans Ame had in mind for their summer break.</p><p>However, those plans would not come to fruition.</p><p>At least, not in the way that either of them expected.</p><hr/><p>
  <b>Fifth Scene - In For A Penny</b>
</p><p> </p><p>It was an unusually sunny morning when it happened.</p><p>The chilly Springtime winds were starting to grow warm and the allure of summer break was on the minds of just about everybody in the Occidental College for Young Ladies. Ame, too, couldn’t help but look forward to summer break as she sat in her favorite nook in the lecture hall that morning.</p><p>Despite all of this hopefulness welling in her heart, however, Ame couldn’t help but feel uneasy. She looked away from the sunny scene outside the window and stole glances at her golden pocket watch again. Class was about to start soon, after all, and her usual companion Ina was nowhere to be found.</p><p>Just the night before, Ame and Ina talked in length about their plans for summer break in the cafeteria, so Ina’s sudden absence didn’t sit well with her at all. The two of them also always came to the lecture hall thirty minute early when they had classes together too - especially ones where Dr. Watson was their lecturer.</p><p>Then, Amelia saw it.</p><p>Her sky blue eyes wandered back to the window beside her nook and she saw a crowd gathering at the quadrangle. There seemed to be a commotion under the shade of the willow tree where three girls cornered another student. Even from that distance, Amelia could tell that the cornered student had her back pressed up against the bark of the tree - and that the student had beautiful, flowing black hair.</p><p>There was only one student from the Far East in the Occidental College for Young Ladies, Ame thought. So, without saying a word, Ame set down her school book, closed her pocket watch and then stood up from her desk. Dr. Watson entered the lecture hall from the front door just as Ame marched out the back, but that wasn’t enough to stop her.</p><p>Amelia Watson marched through the corridors with heavy, purposeful steps. She pushed open the double doors of the main building and then burst into the courtyard menacingly. Even though the sun shone brightly in the cloudless sky, Amelia’s blue eyes were shrouded in shadow under her brown, ribbon-topped hat.</p><p>The gathered crowd of students parted like the biblical sea when Amelia approached them, letting her through to the heart of the quadrangle garden. As Amelia drew closer to the willow tree, she saw the torn remains of Ina’s school bag and its soiled contents were scattered on the muddy garden soil. Even the purple sketchbook that Ina loved was soaking wet.</p><p>Amelia picked up the soiled sketchpad and turned to the last page. There, she saw the sketch of Ina’nis Ninomae blurred beyond recognition. Water mixed with ink seemed to form tentacles that grew from behind her back, turning the beautiful, albeit unfinished picture into an eldritch horror. All the while, the real Ina was begging the three girls for forgiveness as tears formed at the sides of her frightened purple eyes.</p><p>That was all that Amelia needed to see.</p><p>Amelia set down the soiled sketchpad on the bench and continued approaching the willow tree. The cornered Ina saw her friend approaching and cried out,</p><p>"A-Ame!"</p><p>The three girls who had been cornering Ina turned around to face the brave soul that dared to cross the gap. The tallest girl at the center, a haughty brunette with honey-brown eyes saw Amelia and smirked,</p><p>“Well, if it isn’t the little stinky, sketchy wannabe detective from Bedfordshi…”</p><p>Before the girl could finish her sentence, Amelia cut her off and threw a haymaker punch. The punch connected with the girl’s jaw and knocked her down to her feet, drawing gasps from the gathered crowd. One of the tall girl’s companions rushed to her aid while the other one raised up her fists to face Amelia.</p><p>“In for a penny…” Amelia started angrily as she squared off with the companion, “In for a POUND!”</p><p>
  <b>To Be Continued</b>
</p><p>
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</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Hello, everyone! Thank you again for reading this fanfic! Were you able to catch all the cameos and references this chapter? Hehe. Ina got herself into a little bit of a pickle, meeting that neighbor who hates Ame's guts. However, Ame is there to save the day!</p><p>My usual worktime for a chapter should be about 2-4 chapters a month, so I hope I can continue working through this timetable. That said, I'll see you folks again next week or so~!</p><p>Elias</p><p>[New Notes]<br/>Notice how when Ina makes up the nickname 'Ame', Amelia goes from her full name to 'Ame' gradually? Hehehe. Ina's such a trendsetter.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. A Change of Plans</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <b>Prologue</b>
</p><p> </p><p>Dark clouds brewed in the once cloudless blue sky, casting long shadows over the quadrangle garden of the college campus - and the large crowd that had gathered around it. A chilly breeze blew through the canopy of the willow tree and rustled the leaves, breaking the uneasy silence there. Amelia Watson steadied her breath and felt the ominous wind caressing her.</p><p>A few paces away, her neighbor Ophelia Lowry was on the ground with an angry, albeit bruised face, while a lithe goon frantically tended to her. Meanwhile, the larger goon stood before Amelia and cracked her knuckles, eagerly raring for a fight. Then, in the corner of Amelia’s eye, she saw the fearful, trembling Ina watching the scene from the shadow of the willow tree.</p><p>“Ame…” The aspiring detective’s nickname escaped Ina’s lips.</p><p>That reminded Amelia of what she had to do. So, she steeled her stance, furrowed her brow and squared off against the large bully before her.</p><p>‘Observation, young Watson.’ A voice spoke in Amelia’s mind, ‘Observation is key in investigations… and in combat!’</p><p>Those words of advice that Sherlock Holmes shared with her rang clear in Amelia’s mind.</p><p>Heeding those words, Amelia trained her eyes on her opponent and noted every single detail that she could - from the way that she clenched her left fist more tightly than her right, to the unusual way that she drew her breaths and shifted her weight. So, the moment that the bully even thought of closing the gap to strike, Amelia was already prepared.</p><p>Time seemed to slow down for Amelia as the large bully made her play. Anticipating a wild left hook, Amelia bobbed and weaved to the right. The bully’s punch knocked off her hat but sailed over her head of golden hair. Amelia then grinned and met the bully halfway - returning the favor with a straight left to the bully’s torso and a right hook to her rib.</p><p>The bully winced in pain and retreated a pace while Amelia stood her ground, watching keenly once again. How in the world did this small girl manage to hit so hard and so fast!?</p><p>It must have been a fluke, the bully decided, so she tried to assault Amelia again. She threw another left hook at Amelia, but the hat-less girl was prepared for her yet again. Amelia weaved to the left this time and followed through with a solid right haymaker to the bully’s torso.</p><p>Then, just as the bully tried to retreat again, Amelia cocked her head and launched herself at her opponent - headbutting the bully’s open jaw with her hard forehead. That strike rattled the bully’s cranium and left her barely able to stay up on her feet.</p><p>Seeing this, Amelia prepared her coup de grace. She massaged her bruised forehead and then extended both her hands up with open palms.</p><p>“When in doubt…” Amelia started as she approached the bully, “Discombobulate!”</p><p>With surgical precision, Amelia clapped her opponent’s ears with both hands and the dazed bully fell down to the ground on her back.</p><p>The bully gradually recollected herself, but her eyes were unfocused with horror. She then growled,</p><p>“You bloody gremlin!”</p><p>Just as Amelia was about to retort to her downed opponent, however, she noticed a dark, slender shadow approaching her from behind.</p><p>Amelia whirled around and saw the second goon, a lithe girl with a scowl more sour than lemons, armed with a handbag of heavy, hardbound textbooks. The agile girl swung the schoolbag around like a short flail and attacked Amelia from a tough angle.</p><p>This time, Amelia didn’t have time to prepare. She raised up her arms to shield herself from the blow, but the bag struck her with such great force that it rattled her wrists.</p><p>“Damn it!” Amelia cursed in pain.</p><p>She faced her new opponent with full resolve, but her stance was shakier than before. The lithe bully whirled her schoolbag once more and dared the hat-less girl to attack. Naturally, Amelia was more than happy to oblige - screaming with a shrill voice,</p><p>“WREEEE!!!”</p><p>The lithe bully scoffed at Amelia’s war cry and whirled her bag again. Amelia, however, ran at full sprint and tackled the second bully with breakneck speed.</p><p>“Oof!” The bully gasped for air. She fell back-first onto the ground and her weapon came tumbling after.</p><p>Amelia picked herself up from the ground to plan her next move, but she wasn’t given a chance to think. An ornate, designer loafer flew from the corner of Amelia’s eye and struck her with a vicious kick to the hips. The kick flipped Amelia onto her back and she landed in an awkward position. The sound of a peculiar crack then reached Amelia’s ears.</p><p>Her golden pocket watch broke under her weight and a pang of terror swept throughout Amelia’s entire being. Then, before she knew it, the large bully and the lithe bully each took one of her arms and forced her to kneel down on the dirt.</p><p>“You little bitch!” Ophelia Lowry spat on the ground before Amelia, “You do realize who I am, right? You realize who my lovely, lovely friends are too! And yet - you dare to lay a hand on us in front of everyone? BECAUSE OF SOME ORIENTAL!?”</p><p>Amelia gnashed her teeth as the two bullies lifted her up to the level of Ophelia’s face. However, the trapped girl maintained her composure. Then, she answered with a growl,</p><p>“Ina’s not just some Oriental… Lowry. Ina’s my friend - and she’s more awesome than you and your thugs!”</p><p>Ina’s cheeks flushed red when she heard this. Ophelia, on the other hand, puffed up with rage and screamed like a banshee. She then proceeded to kick Amelia with her designer shoes over and over and over.</p><p>“Do you have a death wish, Watson!?” Ophelia shrieked with each kick, “Do you want even more stitches on the back of your head!?”</p><p>Blow after blow rocked Amelia to her core while the two goons held her down. Amelia’s consciousness was starting to leave her, but she still trained her defiant bloodshot eyes on Ophelia - then to Ina.</p><p>‘As long as Ina is safe…’ Amelia thought as her sight wavered, ‘If I can do just that…’</p><p>Thunder rumbled in the heavens as dark clouds dominated the skies. Darkness started claiming Amelia’s sight too. All she could see was a blurry silhouette of Ophelia Lowry cracking her knuckles and winding up to throw a haymaker that would leave a permanent mark on Amelia’s face.</p><p>However, before Ophelia’s silhouette could pounce, some thin, black line slithered through the ground and grabbed her ankle. Then, the silhouette tripped and drew gasps from the large crowd of nameless faces.</p><p>It was only then that Dr. Watson’s thundering voice rang clear through the courtyard.</p><p>“Hey! What is going on here!?” Dr. Watson demanded as he rushed into the scene, “Explain yourselves this instant!”</p><p>A trio of teacher prefects accompanied him and proceeded to break up the crowd, but their warnings mixed in with the cacophony of murmurs and chaos that ensued.</p><p>The bullies let go of Amelia’s arms, letting her fall down to her knees. Before Amelia could slump over to the ground, however, Ina caught her in her arms.</p><p>Ina seemed to be calling out to her, but Ame couldn’t hear what she was saying - or even see the expression that Ina had. However, the thin black line that tripped Ophelia lingered around Ina for a brief moment before it disappeared into thin air.</p><p>Then, Ame’s consciousness left her.</p>
<hr/><p>
  <b>AlterMyth</b>
</p><p>A Change Of Plans</p>
<hr/><p>
  <b>Sixth Scene - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeQY-jHMSDM">Not Yet</a></b>
</p><p> </p><p>Once again, Ame found herself sinking in the dark ocean of the eye of her mind, but the world around her wasn’t as vivid as she remembered. Everything there seemed like ink on aged parchment that had yet to dry. The only colors that she could see were ink black, parchment brown and faint shades of purple and blue.</p><p>This time around, she was lying on the wooden deck of a sunken Spanish frigate that had been torn in two in some old war. Despite this, the well-sculpted twin figureheads of the vessel: a confident girl with glasses shoulder-to-shoulder with a demon-like girl with asymmetrical horns, remained mostly intact.</p><p>Beyond the forgotten figures, however, Ame couldn’t see much else. She couldn’t move a muscle either to explore freely like she normally did. Then, instead of the friendly blue shark that accompanied her in her dreams, there were two ghastly hooded beings that loomed over her.</p><p>The hoods floated around Ame and their flowing black cloaks trailed behind them like ghastly tendrils. Amelia couldn’t see too far, but there seemed to be nondescript human faces underneath their hoods. They also wore long polearm weapons on their back and slung over their shoulders with ebony straps.</p><p>The first hood, a tall and slender presence pointed at Ame and spoke words that Ame couldn’t comprehend. The second hood, an even taller and more imposing creature, observed Ame and then shook its head.</p><p>The two black hoods then had an argument before Ame. It was like a scene that Ame was all too familiar with: a student arguing with her teacher about a test or exam.</p><p>All of the sudden, Ame stirred and she hiccupped - interrupting the conversation of the two. They turned to her once more and Ame felt her heart skip a beat.</p><p>‘Oh shit…!’ Ame thought, but she only succeeded in hiccupping yet again.</p><p>The second hood shook its head again and walked away from the sunken pirate ship, all the while gesturing to the ‘student’ to follow it. The first being, unable to refuse its master, lowered its head with disappointment and obliged - but not before it gave Ame one last menacing glare.</p><p>When the two hooded beings floated away from the scene, the dark ocean was washed away by a bright blinding light.</p><p>Then, Ame came to.</p>
<hr/><p>
  <b>Seventh Scene - Prognosis</b>
</p><p> </p><p>Ame awakened in a cold sweat and shot up from her bed with a start. However, when she tried to sit up straight, pain from her chest, hips and wrists robbed her of her strength and she plopped back down. She was forced to look up at an unfamiliar ceiling by an unfamiliar window where the bright light of the sunrise flowed through.</p><p>“Ugh…” Ame grumbled. The sterile smell of disinfectant and the atmosphere of utter stodginess in the room reminded her of where she was.</p><p>‘Uncle Watson’s clinic’, Ame thought as the gravity of her situation dawned upon her. She was in one of the private clinic rooms on the second floor of the medical practice - a small, bland room with a bed, a table lined with Ame’s folded clothes, a cast iron heating radiator and a portrait of Queen Victoria that watched over her like a hawk.</p><p>Beside her bed, however, Ame found a second table and a comfortable leather-padded chair that had been uprooted from the foyer of the practice. The table was occupied by the morning newspaper, a handful of old tomes, a half-finished cup of coffee and a now slightly water damaged purple sketchbook.</p><p>Ame’s broken golden pocket watch was on that table too, sitting on top of a paperback manual for watch repair written in English and French.</p><p>“Ina…” Ame whispered fondly.</p><p>Moments later, she heard the door of the private room open - followed by a gasp of Ina’s voice,</p><p>“Ame! You’re finally awake!” Ina started as she approached the bedside, “Thank goodness you made it! Dr. Watson said that you almost died!”</p><p>Ame took a moment to slowly sit herself upright.</p><p>“Uncle Watson’s probably exaggerating, Ina.” She tried to correct her.</p><p>However, when she recalled the pair of hooded beings that loomed around her in her ‘dream’, her confidence in her own statement wavered.</p><p>The clinic room door then opened once more and the stoic figure of Dr. John H. Watson entered the room with a grim expression.</p><p>“That was no exaggeration, young Amelia. Miss Lowry and her thugs hurt you more than you may have realized.” He then pointed to Ame’s bandaged arm and revealed, “I had to craft a concoction of medicines - patent pending - to stabilize your condition and stimulate your recovery. You have been out like a light for five days now. By George, you are fortunate to be alive!”</p><p>Ame carefully felt her bandaged arm and thought,</p><p>‘Was that why those guys left?’</p><p>Dr. Watson’s grim expression then coalesced into a frown and he continued,</p><p>“I cannot stay for long. The board of directors of the Occidental College is having another meeting soon, you see - the third one this week. I will do everything in my power to fight for your case, young Amelia, but I cannot help but think that the board has already made up its mind. Miss Ninomae can provide you the details.”</p><p>With that ominous announcement, Dr. Watson tipped his bowler hat and excused himself, leaving Ame and Ina alone in the clinic room.</p><p>The bedridden Ame then turned to her companion to ask, “What happened, Ina?”</p><p>“It’s Mr. Steven Lowry - the father of Miss Ophelia.” Ina started sheepishly, lowering her head as she sat down by Ame’s side, “He is the sitting chairman of the Occidental College. The parents of Miss Ophelia’s goons are board members too. They are conspiring to have you expelled for an unprovoked attack on their daughters.”</p><p>“Unprovoked!? What the fuck!?” Ame shrieked her harsh, unfiltered words and gave Ina a start. She clenched her bandaged fist despite her pain and growled, “Those snakes were attacking you, Ina! How the hell can they get away with this!?”</p><p>“Miss Ophelia’s father is the police chief of Scotland Yard, as well as a close friend of the mayor of London.” Ina explained somberly, “The large goon is the daughter of an American shipping magnate who used to own the college buildings. The lithe one is a relative of the Earl of Sandwich - British nobility- as well as a Member of Parliament!”</p><p>“And they’re just bitches who hang around Lowry because her daddy’s famous!” Ame lashed.</p><p>“I know, I know…” Ina agreed wearily, “However, their families are incredibly powerful and influential. They plan to coerce the rest of the board to vote their way. The rest of the girls and even the prefects who saw the fight are afraid of speaking up too. That’s what Dr. Watson told me.”</p><p>“Still! That doesn’t mean they can just do whatever the hell they want!” Ame stubbornly complained, “I want to give them a piece of my mind! No - I have to!”</p><p>“But Ame, you’re bedridden!” Ina reminded, “You just woke up, too!” </p><p>Ame sank into her bed with a furrowed brow and she thought out loud,</p><p>“I know, but I’m gonna get expelled if I sit here and do nothing. Knowing Ophelia, she’s probably throwing a tantrum to her dad to get you expelled too, Ina. She’s petty like that. We grew up in the same town, so I know.”</p><p>“That may be true, but what are you going to do in that state, Ame?” Ina frowned, “You can barely move a muscle!”</p><p>When Ina said this, Ame’s eyes wandered through the room once more. She glanced at her bandaged arm and then at the morning newspaper on the second table. Then, a smirk formed on her lips and she turned to Ina.</p><p>“Yeah, but that can be changed.” Ame gave Ina a confident wink and then reminded her, “I’m a Watson too, you know. The dumbest one in the family, but still a Watson! I know how to get out of this rut. I’ll just need you to help me a bit, Ina.”</p><p>Ina tilted her head and wondered.</p><p>“Help you?” Ina asked. Then, her face went pale with horror, “Wait… don’t tell me…”</p><p>“Heeheeheehee~” Ame grinned devilishly at Ina and proposed, “I’m gonna get you to help me whip up a concoction! We’ve got all the ingredients right here in the clinic. You’ll help me, right?”</p><p>Shadows shrouded Ina’s purple eyes and she felt the walls of the clinic room closing in on her. Messing with medical supplies was neither her role nor forte, after all. However, looking at the bedridden Ame brimming with confidence told her that she wasn’t going to take ‘no’ for an answer.</p><p>“Okay…” Ina answered sheepishly, “But this was your idea, okay? I don’t want to lose my job over this.”</p><p>“I’ve got ya, Ina.” Ame gestured a thumbs up, “Don’t worry about it!”</p><p>“Easy for you to say.” Ina replied. A smile finally broke out on her lips as she asked, “So, what do you want me to do, Ame?”</p>
<hr/><p>
  <b>Eighth Scene - The Wager</b>
</p><p> </p><p>Tense air filled the boardroom of the Occidental College for Young Ladies at high noon as the directors gathered around the long, mahogany table. Dr. Watson sat across the table from Mr. Steven Lowry, the chairman of the board, and steeled himself for what he thought was inevitable. In the midst of this tension, Ophelia Lowry sat on a bench behind her father and leisurely sipped a cup of strong black tea.</p><p>Ophelia’s face, even after five days, had a cotton bandage on her jaw - but Dr. Watson knew that it was just a cosmetic prop. The two goons of the spoiled brat were there too, wearing bandages even though they had fully recovered. All the while, a portrait of Queen Victoria watched the scene from above the boardroom fireplace and seemed to test Dr. Watson’s resolve.</p><p>The board meeting was already two hours underway when the three girls started giving their wild, falsified accounts of the incident. Their stories drew gasps from the directors, but Dr. Watson sat silently. As a renowned army surgeon and medical professional, he itched to dispute their false claims, but he was alone in the room. All he could do was light a pipe of tobacco with a match and puff smoke with rising anxiety as he waited for his turn to speak.</p><p>‘What would Holmes do in a situation like this?’ Dr. Watson wondered as smoke rose from his pipe.</p><p>Then, as if to answer his question, the boardroom door creaked open and a hiccup reached Dr. Watson’s ears.</p><p>The bullies were still in the middle of spinning their impassioned fictional tale but everyone in the room turned their eyes towards the door. There, the bedraggled figure of Amelia Watson - propped up by a cane and Ina’nis Ninomae’s shoulders - trod laboriously into the boardroom.</p><p>Ophelia and her goons gasped as if they had seen a ghost, and they weren’t far off from the truth. Ame wore the patient’s gown from Dr. Watson’s clinic under her favorite tan coat, revealing the many bandages and splints that she had to wear to support her battered body. As a matter of fact, her bandages made her appear like a mummy from an Egyptian pyramid - or a walking undead ‘zombie’ from the same thread as Frankenstein’s monster.</p><p>Unlike the hale and hearty Ophelia and her companions, Ame looked like a strong breeze could knock her out. Dr. Watson knew that her injuries would have needed at least another week for her to recover. And yet, there she was - standing fearlessly before the firing squad that wanted to expel her.</p><p>‘You madlass!’ Dr. Watson thought. He didn’t need Sherlock Holmes to deduce what Ame did to regain that much strength in such a short period of time. The telltale hiccup told him all he needed to know.</p><p>He wanted to scold her for messing around with experimental medicines - and to scold Ina for enabling his niece. However, at the same time, an unmistakable smile formed on his lips and confidence - finally - burned in his heart. This was the cavalry charge that he had been hoping for.</p><p>“Ladies and gentlemen.” Dr. Watson started and puffed his pipe with greater enthusiasm, “We have heard nothing but Miss Ophelia’s side for these past two days. I believe it is time for the defense to make their case.”</p><p>Chairman Lowry and his daughter cringed at Ame’s unsightly appearance and Dr. Watson’s sudden proposal, but the crowd’s attention had already been stolen. He realized that they probably wouldn’t listen to him or Ophelia even if he raised his voice. So, the chairman rubbed his temple and decided,</p><p>“Fine. I shall allow it. Ten minutes.”</p><p>“Thank you, Chairman.” Dr. Watson smiled knowingly, “Now, I concede my time to my niece. Please lend her your ears.”</p><p>With that, Ina helped Amelia to the podium.</p><p>There, Ame recounted an entirely different tale from what Ophelia and her lackeys had been telling. Every splint and bandage that Ame had on her body seconded her story. Every hiccup that she made threatened to rob her of her balance, but she stood tall with Ina’s help. So, the bullies and their parents had no choice but to sit through those ten minutes that felt like an eternity.</p><p>Once Ame had shared her piece, the parents of the bullies pulled their seats closer to one another and whispered frantically amongst themselves. Chairman Lowry then turned to Ame and challenged,</p><p>“Compelling as your case is, that does not change the fact that you assaulted Ophelia and her friends. The board is still compelled to vote for your expulsion, Miss Watson… but if you make a public apology to my daughter, we could come to an arrangement where...”</p><p>“An apology?” Ame scoffed, “No freaking way! Ophelia started this and I defended myself. I defended Ina too. That’s all there is to it!”</p><p>“What kind of language is that, young lady!?” Mr. Lowry growled angrily, slamming the boardroom table with his fist, “I am giving you a chance, by my authority as Chairman of the board, to absolve yourself of your actions!”</p><p>“And I am offering the board a more enticing opportunity - a wager even.” Ame countered without missing a beat, “Have you read the newspaper today, Mr. Lowry?”</p><p>With that, Ina let go of Ame and handed Mr. Lowry a copy of the morning newspaper. The chairman turned to the front page and started reading.</p><p>“Her Majesty, the Queen, has a royal decree. She is looking for noteworthy research to finance to produce great discoveries in the name of Great Britain. ” Ame explained as she held onto the podium for support. Her eyes then looked up to the portrait of Queen Victoria over the fireplace and continued, “Substantial grants are up for grabs - as well as royal boons - for qualified projects and academic institutions. Ina and I have an idea for an expedition that could put the Occidental College for Young Ladies on the map.”</p><p>“Father!” Ophelia interjected bitterly, “Don’t tell me you’re planning to listen to that gremlin!”</p><p>“Ophelia!” Mr. Lowry lashed back, stopping his daughter in her tracks, “We are having a business discussion. Do not interrupt.”</p><p>The younger Lowry retreated back to the shadows with a sour expression. Mr. Lowry furrowed his brow as he read through the paper. He then passed the newspaper along to the next director and spoke resolutely.</p><p>“You are a shrewd young lady, Amelia Watson, so allow me to make a counter-proposal.” Mr. Lowry started, “We are inclined to accept your offer - but with a few conditions to make this ‘wager’ of yours worthwhile to us.”</p><p>“Lay it on me, buddy.” Ame answered gamely, speaking growing eagerness.</p><p>Mr. Lowry scoffed at Ame’s casual words and then spoke his terms.</p><p>“Firstly, the College will not spend a substantial amount for your expedition. Our finances are already tight to begin with, after all. Secondly, my daughter Ophelia will lead another expedition to search for whatever it is you are planning to search for.”</p><p>He then looked Ame straight in the eye and added,</p><p>“Finally, if this idea of yours is a fluke and you fail to achieve your goal - or if Ophelia beats you to your objective - you and Miss Ninomae will be expelled immediately. Do you still wish to proceed with this ‘wager’ of yours?”</p><p>Ame and Ina turned to each other for a moment. The rest of the directors also started whispering amongst themselves while Ophelia and her goons grumbled in the shadows. </p><p>After a short while, Ame and Ina smiled at the directors confidently. Ame girl then replied,</p><p>“It’s a deal.”</p><p>At this point, Mr. Lowry broke into a fit of laughter.</p><p>“You truly are a madlass! We have a deal indeed.” The chairman caught his breath and asked, “So pray, do tell. What is this grand expedition you had in mind for your wager, Miss Watson? What sort of fool’s errand will catch the attention of the great Queen Victoria?”</p><p>When Mr. Lowry said this, Ina stepped forward with one of the old tomes from the library of Dr. Watson’s medical practice. She set down the tome on the boardroom table and answered calmly,</p><p>“Amelia and I intend to seek and catalogue a mythical creature: the <em> Gallus Herodotus </em> Phoenix.”</p><p>
  <b>To Be Continued</b>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I swear - scientific names are tough enough, but scientific names for fictional things are even harder! Gallus Herodotus Phoenix does not roll of the tongue at all - but it's close to what I imagine Victorian Era biologists would have called it. Don't tell Kiara though, but 'Gallus gallus domesticus' is the scientific name for 'chickens'. To my defense, it's just 'gallus' so it's technically not a chicken. Technically.</p><p>Now I want a chicken sandwich.</p><p>Herodotus, on the other hand, was a famous ancient Greek historian who wrote about the myth of phoenixes. Those ancient greeks thought about everything huh?</p><p>Chi-I mean, Phoenixes aside, Ame's hics! They are a byproduct of overdosing on Watson Concoction in this fic. You'd be surprised by the sorts of over-the-counter medicines that were legal back in the Victorian Era. Ame's lucky to get away with just hiccups! Damn.</p><p>Oh yes - and the two bully friends of Ophelia Lowry.  The American girl's last name is 'Fargo' - as in Wells-Fargo with the whole stagecoach scheme of the Pony Express. She doesn't kick like a horse, but she sure punches like one. The relative of the Earl of Sandwich's family name is 'Wensleydale' - as in the cheese. Because a cheese sandwich. Get it? Ha. Ha.</p><p>That's why I decided not to write those names in. They're minor characters, you get the gist.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. The Journey Begins</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <b>Prologue</b>
</p><p> </p><p>Two months passed since the decisive battle in the boardroom of the Occidental College came to a close. Ame and Ina won their compromise and were able to finish the rest of the Spring semester without too much incident. Now, as the first day of Summer break was dawning, the once frantic battlefield of the campus was still fast asleep.</p><p>A well-dressed young lady, clad in a fashionable orange-brown traveling coat and a hat adorned with a pretty green feather, was sitting on the ledge of the flat, poured-concrete rooftop of the main Occidental College dormitory. From where she sat, the lady had the full view of the quadrangle garden and the willow tree at the heart of it. Then, beside her, a murder of a dozen or so crows cawed and pecked peacefully at breadcrumbs that the young lady was scattering from time to time.</p><p>From that comfortable perch, the young lady thumbed leisurely through the morning newspaper. Her eyes were fixed on the front page and its headline printed in large, bold font:</p><p>‘ <em>Great Phoenix Expedition Begins To-Day! </em>’</p><p>There was a send-off message from Queen Victoria under the headline, as well as photographs of the two expeditions: O. Lowry versus A. Watson. The lady regarded the Watson expedition which showed the proud Amelia and the timid Ina’nis standing shoulder to shoulder. Seeing those two girls brought a smile to the odd lady’s lips. </p><p>All of the sudden, the murder of crows that had flocked around her on the rooftop dispersed in a panic. Black feathers floated down around the young lady, but she kept her eyes on the newspaper in her hands.</p><p>Then, the sound of unnaturally light footsteps coming from behind her reached her ears.</p><p>The young lady didn’t need to turn around to make her assessment. Instead, she just ran a hand through her long locks of orange hair and green accents and called out the presence behind her.</p><p>“You reapers never learn, huh?”</p><p>There was no response, but the shadow of the ‘reaper’ loomed over the orange-haired lady. Then, the shadow drew closer.</p><p>The lady scoffed and threw her newspaper behind her as she turned around. She then watched as the blade of a scythe tore the newspaper cleanly in half, missing Amelia’s arm in the picture by a millimeter. The torn papers fell down to the ground and revealed the black-hooded figure that wielded the scythe.</p><p>The reaper followed through its attack and charged at the lady once more. However, the lady clenched her left fist and summoned a shield with a flash of orange light. The shield easily blocked the blade of the scythe, robbing the reaper of its momentum. Then, the lady reached for the belt of her jacket and pulled on it.</p><p>Her belt turned into an orange-colored broadsword that sang as it swung through the air. With broadsword in hand, the lady closed the gap between them and slashed at the reaper.</p><p>Threatened, the reaper hopped back to dodge the attack but the slash cast a gust of wind that blew off its black hood. Long locks of straight, pink hair adorned with a black tiara of obsidian flowed out from where the hood once was.</p><p>“I had a feeling it was you, Calli!” The orange-haired warrior exclaimed as she and the reaper squared off, “That speed… that tenacity! <em> Ist wunderbar </em>!”</p><p>“My name’s Calliope Mori, you dumb bird!” The reaper named ‘Calli’ growled. She adjusted her grip on her scythe and warned, “Now then, Kiara Takanashi… excuse my rudeness, but could you please DIE!?”</p><p>Despite Calli’s harsh words, the lady named ‘Kiara’ didn’t flinch at all. Kiara simply rested the flat of her blade on her shoulder and mused,</p><p>“It’s just you today, Calli? Your master isn’t with you? Your classmates?”</p><p>“Don’t change the subject!” Calli roared back.</p><p>Infuriated, Calli dashed towards Kiara and swung her scythe again. Her scythe, however, was met by Kiara’s broadsword and they were locked in an uneasy stalemate. They tested each other’s strength and looked each other in the eye. Calli’s rose-colored eyes bore into Kiara with a glare that could pierce souls. Kiara, on the other hand, observed her opponent calmly - if not playfully - with her bright pink.</p><p>As the ladies tried to overpower each other, Kiara chuckled.</p><p>“You reapers aren’t the only ones looking for me, you know. That detective and her friend seem pretty interesting, don’t you think? Maybe I should reveal myself to them.”</p><p>“You can reveal yourself to them alright…” Calli growled and bared her teeth, “But you’ll be a corpse by the time that you do. I’m going to be the one that kills you - once and for all!”</p><p>Calli shored up every ounce of strength that she could muster and finally managed to shove Kiara away and stagger her. Then, Calli aimed the butt of her scythe handle and thrust it into Kiara’s stomach.</p><p>The swordswoman reacted quickly and blocked the thrust with her shield, but the powerful blow sent her flying backwards. As she flew weightlessly in the sky for a brief moment, her eyes saw Calli gripping her scythe with both hands and then holding it far behind her. She saw the reaper bend her knees and the ground seemed to shake beneath her feet.</p><p>This was it, Kiara thought.</p><p>A coup de grâce.</p><p>A killing blow.</p><p>As if!</p><p>Kiara adjusted herself mid-air and spread out her arms. Wings of orange and green feathers sprouted from behind her back and she glided away from the deadly scythe in the nick of time. Despite this, the scythe managed to cut through the fabric of the front pocket of her traveling coat. The contents of her pocket spilled out onto the rooftop floor, but Kiara didn’t bother to retrieve them.</p><p>The bird-lady flapped her wings and hovered over her opponent.</p><p>“I’m sorry, Calli, but I can’t die just yet.” Kiara apologized, “There’s still something that I’ve got to do, no matter what.”</p><p>“Wait a sec! Get back down here!” Calli cursed her opponent, “I’m not done with you - fight me fair and square!”</p><p>“Feel free to chase me again then, Calli~!” Kiara taunted. She flapped her wings again and flew gracefully out of the scene, “Until the next time we meet! <em> Auf Wiedersehen! </em>”</p><p>“Damn it!” Calli clicked her tongue and swung her scythe in frustration. All she could do was watch the bird-lady fly southbound, carried by the early Summer breeze.</p><p>Her frustrated rose eyes then fell down to the spilled contents of Kiara’s pocket. There was a handful of British twopence coins and a mess of orange and green feathers left behind. However, what caught Calli’s attention was a peculiar envelope with a broken blue triangle-shaped seal.</p><p>Calli picked up the letter and read it out loud.</p><p>‘<em> An opportunity of a lifetime… Holomyth </em>?’</p><p>Calli furrowed her brow and spat.</p><p>“What sort of garbage is this?”</p>
<hr/><p>
  <b>AlterMyth</b>
</p><p>
  <em> The Journey Begins </em>
</p>
<hr/><p>
  <b>Ninth Scene - Full English Breakfast</b>
</p><p> </p><p>Later that morning, at the English Maiden cafe, Ame and Ina sat at a window side table. The sun shone brightly through the glass and illuminated the posh decor of the small cafe, but neither Ame nor Ina could enjoy the view. Even though the aspiring detective had already fully recovered from her ordeal, she had rings under her eyes and had disheveled hair under her hat.</p><p>“Ughhh, that noise a while ago…” Ame complained with a whimper, “Were people doing construction work that early in the morning!?”</p><p>Ina, who was wearing a white, broad-brimmed traveling hat, couldn’t hide her tired eyes either. </p><p>“I don’t know…” Ina answered just as flatly as Ame, “Maybe a couple was having a quarrel or something…”</p><p>“A couple?” Ame asked with a raised eyebrow, “In an all-girls school dorm?”</p><p>“W-well…” Ina sank into her seat and hid her blushing cheeks. She then whispered as she fidgeted nervously, “Hey… you never know.”</p><p>Ame, however, simply shrugged and leaned back into her chair as well. When she did, she suddenly hiccupped and startled Ina.</p><p>“Oh dear…” Ame groaned, “The hiccups haven’t gone away, huh?”</p><p>“I-I followed your recipe for the concoction to the letter, Ame…” Ina reminded, “Are you going to be okay?”</p><p>“I’ll live.” Ame bluntly reassured, “I’ve been through worse.”</p><p>Moments later, their waiter served them their food: two servings of an assortment of breakfast foods. Their drinks followed soon after: a cup of Earl Grey for Ame and a cup of strong coffee for Ina. The dark-haired girl perked up immediately as she eyed the mountain of food before her. Seeing Ina so excited brought Ame back to the land of the living too.</p><p>“That’s the Full English Breakfast, Ina.” Ame introduced with a smile. She then sat upright and equipped her utensils to point at her plate, “We’ve got bacon, eggs, sausages, beans, toast and… well… blood pudding.”</p><p>Ame stopped herself as she hesitated for a moment and considered her words. She picked up a slice of blood pudding with her fork and explained,</p><p>“I don’t know what people in the Far East think about blood pudding, but it’s actually pretty good if you give it a try, and…”</p><p>When Ame’s eyes wandered to Ina, however, she saw that Ina had already cleaned off all the blood pudding from her plate and had a piece of blood pudding still in her mouth. Ina ate that last piece of blood pudding and tilted her head to ask,</p><p>“I-is something wrong, Ame?”</p><p>“Oh, n-nothing. Don’t mind me!” Ame laughed uncomfortably and changed the subject, “Anyways, let’s eat!”</p><p>The girls proceeded to leisurely pick away at their Full English Breakfasts, taking breaks to chat or sip on their drinks. They eventually cleaned off their plates and leaned into their chairs again with their cups in hand.</p><p>“This is a truly wonderful cafe, Ame.” Ina praised as her purple eyes seemed to shine like stars, “The food is great. The coffee is delicious. The ambiance is wonderful too! And the name? English Maiden. EnMa. It has a ring to it. How did you find this place?”</p><p>“I sort of discovered this place by accident.” Ame started with a sip of tea. She dug into the pocket of her tan coat, pulled out a peculiar envelope with a broken blue, triangle-shaped seal and then showed it to Ina, “I was supposed to have an important meeting with somebody in this cafe specifically. The meeting fell through, but at least I have my new favorite hole-in-the-wall!”</p><p>Ame then handed the letter to Ina and asked,</p><p>“While we’re on the subject, you wouldn’t happen to have gotten one of these, would you? Or maybe -  do you know someone else who had it?”</p><p>Ina took the letter, but she didn’t take long to answer.</p><p>“Sadly, I have not seen a letter like this in my life.” Ina explained as she handed the letter back to Ame, “My father received a blue-sealed letter from the Governor General of the Dominion once, but not in the shape of a triangle like that.”</p><p>“Is that so…?” Ame hummed. She took the letter from Ina and pocketed it once more, “I guess it was a scam letter after all.”</p><p>Ame paused for a moment before she turned to Ina once more.</p><p>“By the way, I’ve been meaning to ask you, Ina.” Ame started curiously, “You were reading about Phoenixes when we first met, right? What got you so interested in them? You practically gave Mr. Lowry a lecture in the boardroom about them when we made the deal.”</p><p>Ina panicked for a short while, seemingly blindsided by Ame’s question. She hid behind her cup of coffee and watched Ame closely for some reason. Then, when Ame gave her a puzzled expression, Ina sighed and started to piece together her answer.</p><p>“W-well, you see… how do I put it into words?” Ina spoke, slowly lowering her cup onto the saucer, “You see, in the Far East, there are many myths. Let’s see…”</p><p>Ina then started counting with her fingers as she continued,</p><p>“There are these horned creatures called ‘oni’ who can either be really ugly or really pretty deities. <em>Humu humu</em>. There are deities for various festivals throughout the Far East - especially summer festivals. The <em> Matsuri </em>. Some places even have myths and traditions about the moon!”</p><p>“Whoa… really!?” Ame gasped, “That’s a lot of myths! I didn’t know you guys had so many.”</p><p>“I can go on and on about myths from the Far East, hehe, but we would be stuck in this cafe for a while if I ramble on.” Ina chuckled and then smiled, “Ever since my family moved to the West, I wanted to see the myths here. The great magician Merlin. The fairy tales from all over Europe.”</p><p>Ina then beamed at Ame and cheered, “But the one that caught my eye was the Phoenix! I read about Phoenixes whenever I can because they are truly interesting creatures. The cycle of death and rebirth - such a curious thing!”</p><p>“Hopefully we can find that Phoenix during our expedition, Ina.” Ame answered with a smile, “Then, when our job is done, I want you to tell me all about the myths from the Far East. Heck, I want you to take me there too!”</p><p>Hearing this made Ina’s face flush red. Her smile then grew warmer as she answered,</p><p>“Of course! I’d be happy to travel with you again after this, Ame.”</p><p>“Same here, Ina. Same here.”</p><p>As the two girls sat comfortably in silence, the bells of Big Ben rang in the distance to mark the turn of the hour. It told them that it was already ten o’clock.</p><p>Ina heaved a sigh and then asked,</p><p>“Shall we get going then, Ame? The train to Portsmouth leaves in two hours.”</p><p>Ame hummed, but she eventually shook her head. She then grinned at Ina and corrected, “We just have to make a quick stop somewhere first, hehe~!”</p>
<hr/><p>
  <b>Tenth Scene - Parting Gift</b>
</p><p> </p><p>The girls paid for their breakfast and drinks and then walked to the nearby branch of a big British bank. They stepped into the opulent lobby of the bank and stood in line to wait behind twenty other people for their turn to speak with the tellers. On their way to the front counters, the girls passed by a large, standing bronze globe.</p><p>Ame laid a hand on the globe and gave it a spin.</p><p>“We’ve got quite a journey ahead of us, Ina.” Ame started as she watched the spinning globe, “According to those books of yours, Phoenixes were sighted about fifty years ago in Bordeaux, Lisbon, Gibraltar and Vienna. If we’re gonna follow that itinerary, we’re gonna need travelers checks. We’re working on a shoestring budget, but we’re still gonna need to feed ourselves - and we can’t really eat British banknotes.”</p><p>“Ah yes… <em>humu humu</em>.” Ina hummed in agreement, “I guess I have gotten used to using Pounds when I was growing up in Ottawa. I haven’t been to the Far East in a while too, so it didn’t cross my mind until now.”</p><p>“Uncle Watson and Sherlock Holmes are pretty well traveled, so I pick up a few tips and tricks from them, hehe.” Ame grinned. She then laid her hand on the globe again to stop it and pointed at Bordeaux, “Oh, and Uncle Watson told me to present my pocket watch to a certain watchmaker in France to have it fixed. That’s where it was originally made, after all.”</p><p>Ina lowered her head and apologized somberly, “I’m sorry that I couldn’t fix your watch, Ame. I did my best, but I just don’t have the tools or experience…”</p><p>Ame brought out her pocket watch and showed it to Ina with a warm smile.</p><p>“Nah, I appreciate it, Ina. You cleaned all the dirt that got into it and you even repaired the chain! The watch isn’t running right now and the crack on the glass is still there, but at least I can wear it again!”</p><p>“You think so?” Ina perked up once more, “You’re too nice, Ame.”</p><p>Ame grinned at Ina and then hiccupped. The two girls chuckled and carried on chatting as they waited for their turn. They eventually got their checkbooks processed and got their accounts in order. However, just as they were about to go on their merry way, Ame’s teller called her attention.</p><p>“Miss Watson! Before you leave - I have just been informed that a deposit was made into your safe deposit box by courier, courtesy of a Mr. Sherlock Holmes.”</p><p>“From Sherlock!?” Ame gasped with unfettered excitement, “Let me see it!”</p><p>The teller nodded and asked Ame to follow him into the bank’s underground safe deposit box vault. Ame was given the key to her box and the teller excused himself to give her privacy.</p><p>Once she was alone, Ame opened her safe deposit box and retrieved a handsome mahogany box that looked like it was meant for jewelry. There was a small note nestled above the box too.</p><p>Ame took the note and read it out loud.</p><p>...</p><p>
  <em> Dear Amelia, </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Your uncle told me about what happened with the Lowrys. I am sending you something to help you in your journey. Best of luck in the expedition. Don’t spend it all in one place. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Holmes </em>
</p><p>...</p><p>“Don’t spend it all in one place…!?” Ame’s excitement rose even higher, “What in the world could it be?”</p><p>Money?</p><p>Jewelry?</p><p>Another valuable trinket from Sherlock’s latest adventure?</p><p>Ame pocketed the note and proceeded to open the mahogany box. Then, her sky blue eyes shone bright.</p><p>“Ohohoho~!” Ame mused. She eyed the contents of the mahogany box and licked her lips as she spoke, “I’ve always wanted one of these!”</p><p>Inside the box, there was a beautiful Webley six-shooter revolver. The gun was accompanied by two leather cartridge cases with twelve rounds of ammunition each, a bandolier and a holster that were perfect fits for Ame’s size.</p><p>Ame picked up the revolver, accustomed herself to its weight and looked down the iron sights for good measure. Then, she noticed a second note tucked beneath where the revolver once was.</p><p>The note read,</p><p>‘<em> Don’t tell your uncle. I don’t want to deal with that when I come home. </em>’</p><p>Ame snickered and mused, “I wouldn’t want to deal with that either, Sherlock. No, sir.”</p><p>With that, Ame took the cartridge cases, wore the bandolier and holster and then kept the revolver by her hip. She then wore her tan jacket over it to cover it all.</p><p>A broad smile formed on Ame’s lips as she whispered to herself,</p><p>“Let’s freaking go!”</p>
<hr/><p>
  <b>Eleventh Scene - The Lowry Expedition</b>
</p><p> </p><p>It was half past eleven by the time Ame and Ina arrived at the London-Waterloo train station by horse carriage. When the girls stepped out of the carriage, they saw the train that would take them to Portsmouth harbor parked by the South Rail platform: a majestic Victorian Railways E-class steam locomotive leading eight train cars.</p><p>Ame paid their chauffeur and then tossed a three-pence coin to a porter to transfer their luggage from the carriage to the train. So, as the porter got to work, Ame and Ina paid for their tickets and they went to the South Rail platform to get ready to board.</p><p>When they did, however, they found a large group of people already gathered there. Passengers, staff of the railyard and bypassers alike were gathering at the platform around an entourage of people with great fanfare.</p><p>Naturally, Ame and Ina were drawn into the crowd too - wondering what it was all about.</p><p>The two girls waded through the sea of people and eventually broke through. They found that the crowd was gathering around none other than Ophelia Lowry and the remarkably large entourage of her expedition. The spoiled brat was accompanied by her two friends, the lithe and the brawny bullies. Each of those girls had their own personal attendants behind them and a mountain of luggage that the poor porters of the railyard were rushing to load onto the train.</p><p>Finally, six rough-looking men - pairs of Scottish highlanders, German mercenaries and American cowboys - wielded the latest military issue Lee-Enfield “Emily” rifles and stood guard around Lowry and her crew.</p><p>It was practically a private army!</p><p>Seeing that army rattled Ame and robbed her of whatever confidence she had earlier that day. Despite this, Ame couldn’t say a word. Her agreement with Mr. Lowry and the board was that the Watson expedition wouldn’t get substantial funding from the Occidental College - but the Lowry expedition wasn’t restricted by that rule. That meant that Ophelia’s checkbook was going to be infinitely more powerful than hers.</p><p>As Ame was grumbling about her disadvantage, Ophelia noticed her and Ina standing among the crowd. The rich girl scoffed, broke rank from her posse and began marching towards them.</p><p>“Oh my, if it isn’t the little gremlin and her Oriental servant.” Ophelia stopped in front of them and folded her arms, “Are the two of you ready to lose again?”</p><p>“All the money in the world can’t buy the Phoenix, Lowry.” Ame rebutted and tried to stand tall before her old neighbor, “I… I think Ina and I are going to catalogue the Phoenix long before you and your circus! Easy!”</p><p>“Is that so?” Ophelia looked Ame in the eye and countered coldly, “For an aspiring detective, you are an incredibly poor liar. You’re shaking in your boots… ‘neighbor’.”</p><p>Ame twisted her lips, but she couldn’t talk back to Ophelia.</p><p>“You should have just apologized back then, Watson. You dug this grave for yourself and my daddy and I called your bluff. No holds barred. So, I hope you’re prepared so see things through to the end.” Ophelia threatened with a frigid voice. She then saw the train ticket in Ame’s hand and remarked, “Good luck catching the Phoenix from the third-class coach!”</p><p>Ophelia didn’t wait for Ame to answer her. She turned around and went back to her posse to board the first-class cars of the train. Ame bit her lip and grumbled. Then the crowd that had gathered earlier started to disperse.</p><p>Ina laid a hand on Ame’s shoulder and urged,</p><p>“Come on, Ame. Let’s go. The train is about to leave.”</p><p>Ame snorted and then let Ina guide her to the third-class passenger cars. However, the shadow of frustration remained hanging over Ame’s eyes.</p>
<hr/><p>
  <b>Twelfth Scene - On The Rocks</b>
</p><p> </p><p>With the powerful blow of its whistle, the  E-class locomotive began its journey to Portsmouth, one of England's primary harbors and the home of the Royal Navy. Ame and Ina sat together on upholstered seats in a cramped common cabin that they shared with thirty other people.</p><p>Ina was thumbing through her tomes about the <em> Gallus Herodotus </em> Phoenix, but she couldn’t quite concentrate on the pages. Instead, her nervous eyes stole glances of her normally talkative, golden-haired companion sitting beside her with unusual silence. An hour had already passed since they left London, but Ame was like a rock and was starting to make Ina worry.</p><p>The clerk closed her book and wanted to say something to ease Ame’s worries, but the words never came to her. She was quite worried about their chances of defeating the Lowry Expedition too, after all.</p><p>Before Ina could say anything, Ame suddenly stood up from her seat and broke her silence.</p><p>“I’m going to the bar car.” Ame spoke with a blank expression, “I think I need a drink - a stiff one. Maybe two. Wanna come?”</p><p>“S-sorry.” Ina timidly shook her head, “I’m not good with alcohol…”</p><p>“Is that so?” Ame replied flatly, “I’ll be back in an hour or two.”</p><p>“T-take care…” Ina bid her companion goodbye.</p><p>Ame tipped her hat to Ina and then went off on her own.</p><p>With shadows still hovering over her eyes, Ame crossed through the third-class cars of the train and dug into the pockets of her traveling coat to pull out a threepence coin. She flipped the coin aimlessly as she walked and wondered how much she should drink that afternoon - or if she was even going to drink at all.</p><p>Eventually, she reached the bar car - the cabin that separated the first and third class sections. When she got there, however, she saw the backs of four of Ophelia’s private army already seated at the bar - both Germans, one of the Scots and one of the Americans. The large men were incredibly rowdy and were downing alcohol to their hearts’ content. Their presence made Ame lose her appetite for a stiff drink.</p><p>However, in the midst of those men was a small young woman in a worn blue traveling coat and a wide-brimmed hat. That young woman was gregarious and actively taunted the large men for drinking slowly. Ame watched the surreal scene from the corner of the room and saw it evolve into a chaotic drinking contest - with the loser paying everyone’s tabs.</p><p>London Gin.</p><p>Kentucky Bourbon.</p><p>French Champagne.</p><p>One drink after another.</p><p>The bodyguards and the young lady practically threatened to empty the shelves of the bar car. Ten minutes later, the bodyguards relented and surrendered to the young lady.</p><p>“Oh Lordy!” The American bodyguard remarked, “The girl drinks like a fish!”</p><p>One by one, the guards got up from the barstools, dropped handfuls of threepence coins in front of the young lady and returned to the first-class cars. The young lady, on the other hand, pushed the coins over to the troubled bartender and then ordered yet another pint of English pale ale.</p><p>Ame, absolutely astounded by the scene, accidentally dropped the threepence coin that she had been aimlessly flipping. The dropped coin rolled over to the side of the young woman’s seat. The young woman looked down to the coin on the floor and then over to Ame, finally revealing her face.</p><p>It was a young lady who, for some reason, had a head of white hair with blue accents and ornaments that looked oddly like sharks. Her bright blue eyes, however, were unfocused and her cheeks were flushed beet red. She was definitely a human being - and yet, she reminded Ame of the friendly blue shark that she often saw in her dreams!</p><p>The white-haired drunkard glanced at Ame for a moment and wondered if it was another challenger. However, when she got a good look at Ame, only a single noise escaped her lips.</p><p>“A…!”</p><p>She then lost her balance and fell off the barstool. Ame, however, rushed over to the bar and caught the drunkard before she could fall.</p><p>Then, the drunkard blacked out safely in Ame’s arms.</p><p>
  <b>To Be Continued</b>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>If Dr. John H. Watson was the good uncle who did his utmost best to help Ame become an upright and upstanding citizen, Sherlock Holmes is the 'bad' uncle who spoils Ame rotten and teaches her all sorts of things behind Dr. Watson's back. It's not without reason, though. Ame has to save face in Bedfordshire and never outed Ophelia Lowry as the cause of her stiches. Sherlock took one look at Ame - maybe two or three - and figured out what was going on. That was why Sherlock taught Ame how to box - and how to 'discombobulate' her opponents. I likely won't be able to explore that storyline in AlterMyth, and I don't have the heart to tag this as a Sherlock Holmes story (which will open up too many cans of worms at once), so I'm sharing those production notes with you now!</p><p>Also, yes, I did base my version of Holmes on Robert Cumberbatch Jr. Ask too many questions and I'll discombobulate you too.</p><p>Just kidding.</p><p>Unless... </p><p>Moving on! Calli and Kiara are already going out it. They make such a ruckus that they're waking up the neighbors. It's really loud when things get heated up. It's almost like metal is clashing against metal! What in the world are they doing up there!? And what do you mean I'm making it easy to misunderstand what's going on!? It's just construction work.</p><p>Yeah... construction work.</p><p>That aside, I used to work for a bank. I've seen way too many checkbooks for one lifetime - but the Victorian Era did not have the luxury of modern online banking. Did you know they used to serve customers tea and snacks back then in those times? Wild. Our coffee vending machine only worked half the time - and don't get me started on the ants. Eugh. Do yourself a favor and don't get vending machine coffee.</p><p>And on a final note - notice how Kiara and Calli's scene had twopence coins, while Ame constantly has threepences?</p><p>Let that sink in.</p><p>A.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Ride On Time</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <b>Prologue</b>
</p><p> </p><p>When Ame held the passed-out drunk young lady in her arms, the revolting smell of alcohol assaulted Ame’s nose - an unholy mixture of just about every type of alcohol that she could think of. The smell emanated thickly from the drunkard’s mouth and clothes, making Ame worried that she would get drunk herself from just the fumes of it all! So, Ame pinched her nose and turned to the bartender.</p><p>“Barkeep!” Ame called, “D’ya have a room I can use? She needs to lie down - and some water too!”</p><p>The rattled bartender nodded and showed Ame to the bar car’s break room - a small office that was barely larger than the cabin of a horse carriage. There was a sofa there, thankfully, so Ame laid the drunkard down and the bartender set down a pitcher of water and a glass.</p><p>The bartender then excused himself and closed the door behind him. Now that the two were alone, Ame poured a glass of water and urged the drunkard to drink.</p><p>“Hey you. Hydration check. Drink some water.” Ame insisted.</p><p>She set the brim of the glass by the drunkard’s lips, but the blitzed drunkard refused.</p><p>“I get plenny o’ wahter all le time…” She argued with a slur, “Gimme da pale ale I ohrduhd!”</p><p>“Drink. Some. Water.” Ame furrowed her brow and forcibly pressed the glass against the drunkard’s lips, “Don’t make me get creative. Trust me. You wouldn’t like it.”</p><p>The drunkard pouted at Ame but eventually drank the entire glass in a few gulps. She then glowered at Ame.</p><p>“There! Happy?” The drunkard lashed sourly.</p><p>“Over the moon!” Ame answered sarcastically. Her stern face, however, told another story entirely.</p><p>Now what?” The drunkard grew impatient.</p><p>“Now - you rest.” Ame replied, channeling the clinical composure of her Uncle Watson. She set aside the glass and gave her prognosis, “You drank a lot of booze and you were practically stumbling back there. You blacked out too. That could have been dangerous.”</p><p>“I wahsn stublin…” The drunkard’s slur remained poor.</p><p>“Sure, sure.” Ame took the blatant lie in stride and sat down on the sofa. She raised up the drunkard’s head, set it down on her lap and spoke, “Now just stay still for a bit and rest. I’ll stay here with you till you get better.”</p><p>The drunkard’s red cheeks seemed to grow redder for a moment. The last thing she expected was getting a lap pillow from a beautiful blond girl, after all. Regardless, the drunkard ran out of quips and rested her head on Ame’s lap in absolute silence. Only the rattle of the train as it rumbled on towards Portsmouth disturbed the serene albeit cramped scene. More than that, the drunkard had an unusually nice view of Ame’s bountiful chest. Ame’s bust was compressed by her tan traveling coat, but the way they moved threatened to hypnotize the drunkard regardless.</p><p>When the drunkard finally managed to muster the willpower to look away from Ame’s chest, she looked up to Ame’s face and spoke.</p><p>“Oy… I recugnize ya. Yer da gurl frum de nespapr. Wahtsn.”</p><p>“Normally, I’d be happy that someone finally recognized me instead of fawning over Lowry.” Ame chuckled and playfully flicked the drunkard’s nose. “But I’m not sure how to feel hearing that from a drunkard.”</p><p>“I’m naht drank.” The drunkard wrinkled her nose and scoffed. She then struggled to introduce herself, ”I’m Gooruh. Gooruh Garr… or Garr Gruh, or…”</p><p>“Are you trying to say your name or something?” Ame wondered just what in the world the drunkard was trying to say that time. Then, all of the sudden, Ame hiccuped.</p><p>The drunkard paused and suddenly burst out laughing.</p><p>“H-hey, yer drank too!” She teased Ame.</p><p>However, the drunkard suddenly stopped herself and covered her mouth. Ame tilted her head and wondered what the drunkard was doing. Another minute would then pass before the drunkard lowered her hands and spoke again,</p><p>“I’m Gura. Gee. You. Are. Eh. S’my name.” The drunkard named ‘Gura’ clarified.</p><p>“Amelia Watson.” Ame responded, “But you can just call me ‘Ame’. It’s easier to say.”</p><p>“Ame, huh…? Suits ya.” Gura hummed, savoring the name. Her expression then brightened and she added, “I cahn shee a good perzn when I se wan, A-me. I mean yer takn care o’ me - a stranger.”</p><p>“It’s the least I can do for someone who can barely stand up.” Ame explained frankly, “Besides - my uncle’s a doctor, so I can’t say no to someone in need like this. He’d be ashamed if someone died of alcohol poisoning under my watch.”</p><p>Ame’s sky blue eyes then watched Gura’s worn blue traveling coat and noticed how tight it seemed to be. The novice doctor then suggested,</p><p>“You know - come to think of it - you’ll breathe easier if you open up that tight coat of yours… your circulation will…”</p><p>Just as Ame was about to reach for the buttons of Gura’s coat, however, Gura’s right hand disappeared under her coat and her eyes sharpened frigidly. Gura then pulled out a revolver - a similarly worn and weathered American Colt 1873 Single Action Army - and threatened in a rare spell of clarity,</p><p>“Don’t touch my coat, Ame. Touch my coat and I’ll kill you!”</p><p>Ame, however, just heaved a sigh and pointed out,</p><p>“You know, Gura - you’re pointing that gun at your own head.”</p><p>Gura gasped and then adjusted her aim, pointing the gun at Ame’s head this time. Despite this, the blond traveler was completely unfazed.</p><p>“You’ve got a cool gun - a real Big Iron with black powder - but it’s in crappy condition. It’s probably jammed on you in the past and it’s probably gonna jam on you today.” Ame calmly assessed, “Oh, and your gun isn’t loaded either. The way you moved it just now - it’s too light. Rookie.”</p><p>Gura scrambled to check the cylinder of her revolver and it was, indeed, empty. The drunkard’s head started to spin, wondering how this strange blond managed to deduce all that with just one glance. Ame, however, reassured her.</p><p>“Fine. I won’t open your coat. It’s your choice - I won’t force you.” Ame then proceeded to stroke Gura’s white hair and continue, “And besides - if you really wanted to kill me, you would’ve gotten up and caused a bigger fuss.”</p><p>Gura pouted again and eventually let the empty gun slip from her hands and onto Ame’s lap. The train rumbled on through the tracks and the shaking eventually lulled Gura to sleep. Ame looked up to the ceiling and lamented.</p><p>“I came here to get drunk - now I’m taking care of a drunkard who could have killed me. Just my luck.”</p><p>Moments later, Ame noticed tears forming at the sides of Gura’s eyes. So, Ame brought out a handkerchief and wiped Gura’s tears for her. She then picked up the Single Action Army revolver from her lap and held it up to the ceiling lamp.</p><p>“Ah, I see…” Ame remarked, “No wonder this thing jammed. I can fix that.”</p><p>She brought out her own revolver’s cleaning kit and proceeded to clean the gunk out of Gura’s gun. Ame carefully brushed through the barrel and the cylinder with gentle strokes of her ramrod and she meticulously wiped down the sun-bleached frame. Once she had done everything that she could, she noticed the clock on the wall of the break room and gasped.</p><p>Time had flown way faster than she thought!</p><p>So, Ame wrapped the gun in her used handkerchief and slipped it back into the pocket of Gura’s coat while the drunkard stayed fast asleep.</p><p>Satisfied, Ame then got up from the sofa, eased Gura’s head onto a throw pillow and proceeded to sneak out of the breakroom. She took great care to move quietly and carefully so as to not disturb the sleeping Gura. Then, just as she left the break room and closed the door behind her, she found her partner Ina wandering around the bar car!</p><p>Ina noticed Ame out of the blue and a troubled expression took over her.</p><p>“Ame, we’re almost at Portsmouth - but you never came back to our seats!” Ina started with grave concern, “I was worried that you were drowning your sorrows too much and…”</p><p>The aspiring librarian then sniffed and winced bitterly. Absolutely revolted, Ina gasped,</p><p>“Eugh~! You reek of alcohol! Just how much did you drink!? Did something happen!?”</p><p>Ame laughed with discomfort. How in the world was she going to explain to Ina what just happened to her? No matter how she cut the situation, it wasn’t a story that was easy to tell. As the right words to tell Ina stubbornly eluded Ame’s grasp, the train whistle blew twice and announced their approach into Portsmouth.</p><p>Ina loomed over Ame like a hawk, waiting for an explanation that never came. It didn’t take long for Ame to realize that she had just gotten herself into a rather tricky situation.</p>
<hr/><p>
  <b>AlterMyth</b>
</p><p>
  <em> Ride On Time </em>
</p>
<hr/><p>
  <b>Thirteenth Scene - Slippery Slope</b>
</p><p> </p><p>Uneasy silence lingered between Ame and Ina as the two of them stepped off the train onto the Portsmouth Harbor station platform. All the while, a thick, salty fog rolled into Portsmouth and shrouded the harbor, making it hard for the girls to see far beyond the train station. Even then, Ina was unusually assertive and glowered at Ame with looming suspicion.</p><p>The right words continued to elude the overwhelmed Ame, lost in the fog of her own mind. Just where in the world could she possibly start!? She was already at wits end.</p><p>“W-well, you see…” Ame started, grasping for words - any words, to tell Ina, “It’s a bit of a complicated thing… but uh, you know… it’s n-nothing really.”</p><p>Those evasive words, however, only stoked the fires of Ina’s suspicion even more.</p><p>Ame was about to scramble words together again when she was interrupted by the loud foghorn of the RMS Teutonic - the vessel that would ferry them to Bordeaux, France. Shortly after, the sound of footsteps reached Ame’s and Ina’s ears.</p><p>“The two of you must be the Watson Expedition.” The foggy silhouette spoke with a firm, confident voice, “Welcome to Portsmouth Harbour - and to the pride of the White Star Line, the RMS Teutonic.”</p><p>A tall brunette lady sauntered through the fog and appeared before the couple. She gave them a polite, albeit stiff curtsy and revealed her attire. She wore black pants and a smart, double-breasted coat that somehow managed to accentuate her curves. Her brown hair was long, tied into a ponytail and tucked under the white hat of the RMS Teutonic crew.</p><p>“My name’s Jacqueline Chadwick, but you can call me Jackie.” The lady adjusted her hat proudly for the girls to see and continued, “I’m the First Mate of the Teutonic for this voyage. The skipper, Captain James Morrison Esq., sent me to greet you when you arrived.”</p><p>“Amelia Watson.” Ame introduced herself with a polite curtsy.</p><p>“Ina’nis Ninomae.” Ina added, following suit.</p><p>Chadwick watched the two girls with keen interest and folded her arms as if she was appraising them. Then, Chadwick grinned.</p><p>“Well met, Watson! Ninomae!” The First Mate put a hand on her hip and announced, “To celebrate your admirable undertaking, the Captain will be holding a dinner banquet in honor of the two expeditions later tonight. On top of that - we’ve made arrangements to upgrade your Third-Class ‘steerage’ tickets to Second-Class ‘cabin’ tickets. Oh - and you can leave your baggage to us too.”</p><p>“A ticket upgrade…? And our baggage too...” Ame gasped, “W-wait, how much do we owe you?”</p><p>“It’s on the house~!” Chadwick explained with a brighter grin, “The trip to Bordeaux will be long, so we want to offer our guests of honor as much hospitality as we can. Life is short, yeah? You have to enjoy things to the fullest.”</p><p>Ina gave Ame a sidelong glance and whispered coldly,</p><p>“Just take it, Ame.”</p><p>Ame lowered her head and conceded,</p><p>“A-alright… thanks for your generosity, Miss Chadwick.”</p><p>“Excellent~!” Chadwick beamed and gestured to the two girls, “Now then - if you would please follow me, I’ll give you a short tour of the ship before we set sail! Then, I’ll show you to your rooms.”</p><p>With that, the First Mate led Ame and Ina through the foggy gangway and onto the deck of the RMS Teutonic. Thankfully, when they entered the ship, the fog didn’t follow them inside. Chadwick spoke enthusiastically and showed the girls the various sections of the passenger ocean liner and its various amenities. However, neither Ame nor Ina could listen to the tour - or pay attention to their surroundings.</p><p>Ame racked her brains and tried to make sense of her meeting with Gura, but her encounter seemed stranger and stranger the more she thought about it. She stole glances of Ina too, hoping for some sort of opening to talk to her or a clue to make her explanation smoother, but Ina stubbornly evaded her gaze. That stalemate, however, wasn’t going to last forever - and Ame knew that all too well.</p><p>Soon enough, the tour came to an end and Chadwick brought the two to their upgraded second-class Cabin room.</p><p>True to the name, it was a small cabin that was about the size of a single-bed dorm room at the College. There were two single beds illuminated by a hanging electric lamp and the faint light of the foggy afternoon sun shining through a small, circular window. Their modest load of luggage was also stowed away in the corner of the room too - just as Chadwick had promised.</p><p>The First Mate gave the girls a thumbs up and ended her spiel.</p><p>“Well then, I’ve got to go back to the bridge now. Rest up for now - and don’t forget to dress up for the dinner banquet! We will be taking photographs, after all.”</p><p>Chadwick excused herself and then closed the door behind her, leaving Ame and Ina in an awkward silence.</p><p>The aspiring detective sat on her bed while the librarian apprentice sat on hers. The two girls faced each other and Ina played with her long locks of dark-purple hair. Her lips pursed and she stole glances of Ame this time, quietly asking her for an answer - an answer that Ame had been struggling with all that time.</p><p>Then, just as Ame opened her mouth to answer, there was a knock on the door.</p><p>Ame gritted her teeth and cursed beneath her breath. Was it Chadwick? Or someone from Lowry’s crew?</p><p>Whoever it was, it was bad timing. Ame crumpled her lips and called out to the door.</p><p>“It’s open. Come in.”</p><p>The cabin door opened and revealed a peculiarly short, white-haired young woman who was wearing a maid outfit. Ame’s heart stopped when she saw this and her face went pale with horror. She recognized the shark-style hair ornaments nestled alongside the maid’s headdress - and the unusual tightness of her maid uniform was all too familiar.</p><p>The ‘maid’ closed her eyes and gave a curtsy as she introduced herself with a Southern drawl.</p><p>“Howdy folks. I’m Gawr Gura. I’ll be the chambermaid for your room - and I’ll be your dinner server too.”</p><p>When Gura stood up straight and opened her eyes, she saw the mortified Ame with her jaw dropped. Gura’s face then went beet red as she and Ame shouted at the same time,</p><p>“It’s you! From the train!”</p><p>Ina’s expression turned sour in an instant. She folded her arms and growled with rising anger,</p><p>“Ame…”</p><p>Hearing her name like that made Ame start sweating bullets. Even the chambermaid Gura felt like she had stepped on a landmine. Then, the awkward silence was broken by the foghorn of the RMS Teutonic as the ship finally set sail.</p><p>Now, Ame knew that there was no going back.</p>
<hr/><p>
  <b>Fourteenth Scene - Hectopascal</b>
</p><p> </p><p>Ina’nis Ninomae sat on her bed but wore a menacing expression that chilled both Ame and Gura to the core. She seemed to give off an unearthly aura as her purple eyes scanned the room to glare at Ame, then at Gura.</p><p>Her eyes then settled on Gura and promptly tested her.</p><p>“You say your name is ‘Gawr Gura’, huh? First name Gura. Family name Gawr. Unusual - but not unheard of.” Ina hummed with displeasure, “I’ve read about that kind of name in an old Greek book. The etymology is Atlantean - from Atlantis. Do you mean to tell me that you’re from Atlantis?” </p><p>“A-Atlantis!? Naw… I’m not from Atlantis!” Gura trembled and tried to argue, “That place is a myth! Doesn’t exist! Those Greeks are funny fellers ain’t they? Probably got mixed up with Atlanta or somethin’”</p><p>“Is that so.” Ina crossed her legs and challenged, “Then where are you from, Miss Maid?”</p><p>Gura fidgeted under Ina’s gaze, but she managed to answer her.</p><p>“I’m from… uh… West Virginia! Y-yeah. I was a rootin’, tootin’ cowgirl  from the US of A! I’m just here for work - I swear!”</p><p>Ina’s glare sharpened, but Gura’s Southern drawl eventually convinced her. So, Ina’s eye turned to Ame next.</p><p>“And you, Ame - I thought you said nothing really happened in the train. But all of the sudden - you had fun with a Yankee and tried to hide it from me!? I was worried sick about you, you know!”</p><p>Ame squirmed under the intense pressure of Ina’s eyes. This was the first time Ina asserted herself and Ame thought that she was going to blow a fuse! Ame grabbed her own collar and gulped as she desperately thought of some excuse to say.</p><p>Then, Gura suddenly intervened.</p><p>“Um! Well - you see - Ame found me in the bar car earlier! I drank too much and blacked out. She took care of me in the break room there till I felt better. That’s all - honest!”</p><p>“Ame…?” Ina noticed the nickname. Shadows then formed over her purple eyes and she clarified, “She took care of you?”</p><p>“Y-yeah…” Gura blushed hard and explained, “She made me drink water. She stroked my hair and let me lie down on her lap and…”</p><p>Ina listened to Gura’s story and the shadow over her eyes seemed to darken. The temperature in the room seemed to fall for Ame as Ina’s very presence became a blizzard.</p><p>Finally, Ina snapped.</p><p>“ENOUGH! I’ve heard enough! The both of you! Get out!”</p><p>“Ina, wait…!” Ame tried to speak, “Calm down for a sec…”</p><p>“GET OUT, I SAID!” Ina roared with frigid fury, “STUPID AME! GET OUT!”</p><p>Ina grabbed her coin purse and threw it at Ame. The frightened detective shielded herself, blocked the purse with her shoulder and watched its contents of threepence coins spill out onto the cabin floor. The purse didn’t hurt Ame in the slightest, but her heart felt heavy and ached with sadness.</p><p>Absolutely defeated, Ame got up from her bed and brought herself and Gura out of the room. A somber frown remained on Ame’s lips and she tried to steal one last glance of her friend, but that only stung her heart even more.</p><p>Ame rubbed her temple and grumbled - frustrated with herself. All the while, other travelers in the Cabin-class hall were poking their heads out from the doors of their rooms and wondered what the racket was all about.</p><p>Gura shrank under the gaze of the other passengers, so she tugged on Ame’s sleeve and proposed,</p><p>“Hey. Let’s go get some fresh air - clear the mind and all. It’s sorta stuffy in here, y’know… with all the people watchin’.”</p><p>Ame nodded weakly and let the chambermaid lead her out of the Cabin-class hall and onto the deck of the ship. The two young ladies leaned against the rails of the Teutonic’s deck. They were greeted by the sea breeze and the salty spray of the English Channel blowing against their faces.</p><p>At the very least, the fog was long gone and the afternoon sun was setting in the West.</p><p>Dejected, Ame and Gura watched the foggy Portsmouth Harbor drift further and further away. Seagulls sang their song while the Teutonic traced lines of thick, brown smoke from its twin funnels, adding to the chaos that Ame and Gura felt.</p><p>The Teutonic blew its foghorn again and spurred Gura to break the silence,</p><p>“I’m sorry for talking out of line there, Am… I mean, Watson…”</p><p>“Ame’s fine. I’m not really picky with names, you see.” Ame answered wistfully, “Ina - the one who threw coins at me - was the first one to call me that. She came up with that nickname too, so it’s sort of special for her. That’s probably why she got mad… well, one of the reasons at least.”</p><p>“One of the reasons?” Gura gulped fearfully, “That… doesn’t sound good.”</p><p>So, as the Teutonic sailed on towards the setting sun, Ame explained her situation to Gura. The chambermaid nodded eagerly and made an effort to listen to Ame’s story - from Ina being entrusted to her by Dr. Watson to the high stakes of the wager that she made with Mr. Lowry.</p><p>“Boy, that’s rough. I can see why Ina’s mad.” Gura scratched the back of her head. Then, she smirked at Ame, “But at the same time, the two of you really care about each other, huh?”</p><p>“We do…?” Ame tilted her head, “Me and Ina?”</p><p>“Yeah - who else would I talk about, dumdum?” Gura scolded, “I mean - you wouldn’t have made that wager if you didn’t care about Miss Ina. Then, Miss Ina wouldn’t have accompanied you until now if she didn’t care about you, Ame!</p><p>“Hmm… I never thought about it that way before.” Ame admitted bashfully, “I guess I really am the dumbest of the Watsons.”</p><p>“I won’t disagree with you there, partner.” Gura snickered devilishly. She then wore a warm smile and added, “But I still caused the two of you trouble - even after you helped me out and all in the train. Hell - I even pointed a gun at ya when my head was fuzzy! That ain’t right. So, if there’s anything I can do to help you make up with Miss Ina, I’d like to do it.”</p><p>“How to make up with Ina…” Ame thought out loud. She looked out to the sun setting in the West and realized, “Come to think of it, Ina really enjoys eating. Whenever we chatted back in the school - she usually had some sort of snack with her. The last time we ate was at the English Maiden for breakfast… and she doesn’t eat well when she’s worried. So, if she’s been worried about me all this time, then...”</p><p>Ame and Gura then looked at each other and gasped.</p><p>“She’s hungry!” They came to the same realization.</p><p>“Say, Gura…” Ame promptly asked, “When’s the dinner banquet gonna be?”</p><p>“In a few hours.” Gura explained, “The skipper likes to eat late, you see.”</p><p>“Is that so?” Ame folded her arms. Her confidence started rising once more as she eagerly spoke, “Well then - do you think you can whip something up for us before then? A quick snack?”</p><p>“I sure can~!” Gura answered, matching Ame’s energy, “You can be my sous chef if you want to help out!”</p><p>Ame nodded and then gave Gura a salute. She then answered,</p><p>“Yes chef!”</p><p>Gura burst out laughing, but she clearly enjoyed Ame’s enthusiasm.</p><p>“I like it! I like it!” Gura bounced around the deck, “Come with me then, Ame! We’re making a peace offering for Miss Ina!”</p>
<hr/><p>
  <b>Fifteenth Scene - Summer Triangle</b>
</p><p> </p><p>Back in the Cabin-class room, a somber Ina picked up the threepence coins that had spilled out from her purse one by one. All the while, she grumbled about the story that the stammering chambermaid revealed to her out of fear. She imagined a debonair Ame biting the stalk of a rose as she carried the blushing chambermaid Gura through the Portsmouth-bound train.</p><p>That scene she made in her mind frustrated her to no end - but she was frustrated by how she was letting this get to her at all. Was she afraid of losing Ame to the chambermaid? Seeing how in-sync Ame and Gura were, Ina was shaken to the core. She felt betrayed - but a part of her told her that it was unfair for her to think like that. After all, Ina knew that she had been keeping her own feelings bottled up as well.</p><p>Ever since her eyes met with Ame’s in the foyer of Dr. Watson’s medical practice, Ina admired Ame. When Ame protected her against the bullies - risking her life and reputation to do so - Ina looked up to Ame as her hero. Somewhere along the way, Ina fell for the dorky detective’s charm - but she never once had the courage to admit it. Only Ina’s old sketchbook knew her true feelings, after all.</p><p>It was her most precious secret - one of the many secrets that Ina’nis Ninomae kept from Amelia Watson.</p><p>Perhaps she should apologize? That thought crossed Ina’s mind more than once. Even she could appreciate how odd a situation Ame got herself into. It also didn’t sit well with her to treat the chambermaid Gura so harshly either. More than that, she couldn’t help but think that the chambermaid was incredibly cute.</p><p>She couldn’t possibly stay mad forever.</p><p>Just as Ina was wondering what to do, there was a knock on the door. Ame’s voice then called her,</p><p>“Ina? Are you there?”</p><p>Ina pouted and stayed silent. She then set her coin purse aside on the nightstand and buried herself under the blankets of her bed.</p><p>Moments later, the door of the room opened and two pairs of footsteps sauntered inside.</p><p>Ina remained silent and stayed under her blankets, but the presence of Ame and Gura approached her bedside. Ame’s voice then called Ina again.</p><p>“Hey, Ina. I’m sorry - okay? It was a bit of a bizarre adventure, you see - I didn’t know how to tell you about it without sounding weird and all.”</p><p>The presence of Gura then drew closer to the bedside as well and added,</p><p>“I’m also sorry, Miss Ina. I shouldn’t have gotten blitzed like I did. I even troubled your friend to take care of me. That’s why I made you a peace offering. Ame helped too.”</p><p>Under the blankets, Ina pursed her lips. She was tempted to tell Ame and Gura to buzz off, but a strangely pleasant smell reached her nose - the smell of freshly cooked food. Then, Ina’s hungry stomach rumbled loudly.</p><p>Slowly, Ina emerged from her blanket and saw Ame and Gura kneeling at her bedside. Behind the two dorks, there was a wooden tray with plates of food.</p><p>Gura then grinned at Ina and explained,</p><p>“Ame told me that you grew up in Canada, Miss Ina - so I made something nearly every North American family loves. Meatload!”</p><p>Ina finally sat up straight on the bed and saw that there was a serving of basic meatloaf with mashed potatoes and boiled vegetables. It was completely different from the high-end, bistro-style food of the English Maiden cafe, but that was the way her parents made dinner.</p><p>Ame and Gura made that meatloaf - for her.</p><p>“You must be really hungry after our long trip today.” Ame smiled warmly at Ina and offered her hand to her, “Think of this as our apology to you, Ina. C’mon - let’s eat.”</p><p>Gura grinned at Ina too and quietly urged her to take Ame’s hand.</p><p>So, after a moment of silence, Ina obliged.</p><p>Ina took Ame’s hand and let the detective help her up to her feet. All the while, Ina stubbornly lectured them..</p><p>“F-fine… but please don’t make me worry like that again, Ame.”</p><p>“I’ll try not to~” Ame answered gladly.</p><p>“And for you, Miss Gura?” Ina started sternly. Then, she finally wore a small smile, “It’s called ‘meatloaf’, not ‘meatload’.”</p><p>“Eh…!? Really!?” Gura gasped. It was as if she had just had a major, life-changing revelation, “I’ve been lied to all this time!”</p><p>Ina, on the other hand, broke out into laughter. The frigid snowstorm that had taken root in her voice finally melted away. Ame and Gura joined in and the three of them sat down at the cabin table. There, Gura sat and watched as Ame and Ina ate meatloaf together.</p><p>The three young ladies introduced themselves once more and broke down the barriers between them quickly. All the while, the RMS Teutonic rocked slightly harder than usual as it cut through rough waters.</p><p>The swaying caused a trio of threepence coins that Ina missed to slide closer and closer together until the distance between them finally disappeared - as if the distance was never there at all.</p>
<hr/><p>
  <b>Epilogue</b>
</p><p> </p><p>Later that evening, at the reception for Captain James Morrison’s dinner banquet, Jackie Chadwick watched the room from one of the corners. She had a lit cigar in her mouth and puffed leisurely in the midst of the lively din of the RMS Teutonic’s many guests. The First Mate’s eyes, however, were fixed on the photograph station.</p><p>There, she found Amelia Watson wearing a beautiful yellow cocktail dress while Ina’nis Ninomae had a dazzling dress of rich periwinkle. The two young ladies flanked one of Chadwick’s staff, the chambermaid Gawr Gura, and urged her to join them in their commemorative photograph.</p><p>“Well, they’re having fun…” Chadwick mused with a smile on her lips. However, her thoughts trailed off along with the smoke of her cigar.</p><p>While Chadwick puffed her cigar, a tuxedo-clad sailor approached her and whispered something in her ear. Chadwick nodded and then followed the sailor out of the reception hall. The two of them then walked briskly down the main hallway towards a door marked ‘Marconi Telegraph Room’.</p><p>Chadwick went into the telegraph room alone and regarded the large, sprawling Marconi telegraph machine before her that covered the walls of the small room and the small wooden desk. A small ticker tape printer produced a thin strip of paper marked with a series of dots and dashes.</p><p>Once the printer came to a stop, Chadwick tore off the strip of paper and read its contents.</p><p> </p><p>-.-- --- ..- ....... .-- .. .-.. .-.. ....... .--. .- -.-- ....... ..-. --- .-. ....... - .... .. ... --..-- ....... .--- -....- -.-. .... .- -.. </p><p> </p><p>Chadwick scoffed. She crumpled up the message and then turned to the tuxedo-clad sailor.</p><p>“Operator. Send a message for me to London.” The First Mate barked confidently, “I’ve got new orders for your boy.”</p><p>
  <b>To Be Continued</b>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Blessed are those who take care of their drunk friends, for theirs is the stains of last night's dinner. I can't begin to thank friends who took care of me when I got drunk before - so I've sort of become the sober dad of my group. Now, I take care of them - even if they don't remember it. Whether or not I have 'forbidden knowledge' - allow me to quote Francis Urquhart... or Frank Underwood. 'I couldn't possibly comment.'</p><p>Writing Gura meeting Ame for the second time - I couldn't help but think about that Spiderman meme. That was exactly what I was going for - but Ina didn't like it. Not one bit. I'm afraid I'm going to get a SAN check soon.</p><p>Why the RMS Teutonic and not the Titanic? Well the Titanic didn't exist yet, buddy. The Teutonic is one of the predecessors of the Titanic under the same company - the White Star Line. It was also held the record for fastest trip from England to the United States. Once. It was stolen by the SS City of Paris the next year - and the crew of the Teutonic has been salty ever since. A perfect boat to carry a salty gremlin, amirite?</p><p>Hectopascal is a unit of pressure - the sort that you would feel when you go on a deep dive. It's also the name of the Ending Song of Yagate Kimi ni Naru. I'm not hinting anything. I swear.</p><p>That's all for now - eat your farty broccoli and your meatload and make sure that your corn is knee-high come July, or you can kiss your corn goodbye.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Teutonic Shadows</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I have started adding more extensive notes to the chapters of this story. Chapters 1, 3, 4 and 5 now have post-chapter notes with some of my thoughts during the production process and other tidbits - and this chapter will have post-chapter material too. I plan to do this from hereon out, so do check them out! Chapter 1 also has a new Preface hehe.</p><p>That's all for now - without further ado, here's Chapter 6 of AlterMyth!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <b>Prologue</b>
</p><p> </p><p>Within the dark confines of a walk-in closet, Ina’nis Ninomae was in a tight situation. In that hot, stifling darkness, her face seemed to glow bright red. Amelia Watson, the girl that she had admired from the moment they met, embraced her tightly from the front. That embrace buried Ina’s face in the blonde’s bountiful bosom, making their hearts race. Sweat dripped from Ina’s brow and slid down onto the fabric of Ame’s white dress shirt - causing the detective to nearly moan.</p><p>Then, from behind, Ina felt another embrace tighten around her waist. This time, it was from the chambermaid Gawr Gura who burst into her life - and Ame’s - like a summertime storm. Despite this, Gura’s breaths gently kissed the skin of her back as the chambermaid’s nose and mouth got snagged under the top of Ina’s pajamas. Ina was already fighting hard to stay quiet when Gura trembled and pressed her face into Ina’s back.</p><p>Ina wanted to scream in embarrassment and squeal with delight at the same time, but the three of them forced themselves to stay quiet. After all, through the downward-slanted wooden grills of the closet door, a pair of shadows lurked in the room - too close for comfort.</p><p>So, trapped between joy and terror, Ina wondered how exactly she got into this mess!</p><hr/><p>
  <b>AlterMyth</b>
</p><p>
  <em> Teutonic Shadows </em>
</p><hr/><p>
  <b>Sixteenth Scene: The Girl In The Mirror</b>
</p><p> </p><p>One night ago, in the large, wood-floored ballroom of the RMS Teutonic, the reception for Captain Morrison’s banquet was underway. About two dozen guests - high profile passengers from the First-Class ‘Saloon’ section of the boat - were gathered there and flocked around the well-dressed troupe of the Lowry Expedition. The three spoiled brats basked in the attention at the heart of the room while their six bodyguards patrolled the room and watched from the corners.</p><p>On the other hand, the two-girl team of the Watson Expedition languished far from the spotlight - with only their chambermaid Gura attending to them. Ina normally didn’t bother to think about her well-armed, well-funded and well-loved opponents, but being stuck in a ballroom with them for half an hour forced them into her frame of mind. It left a bitterness in her mouth that wouldn’t go away - and the growing delay of the banquet didn’t help in the slightest.</p><p>Aside from the Lowry Expedition guards, another cadre of souls wore tuxedos and loomed around the ballroom too. Gura told Ina and Ame that they were direct reports of First Mate Chadwick who usually kept to themselves and their stations. Their cold stares and imposing figures made Ina squirm - and even the six Lowry guards avoided eye contact with them too.</p><p>Not sure what else to do, Ina washed away her anxiety and the lingering bitterness in her mouth with some fruit punch. She downed one glass - then two. Before long, she was demanding that Gura serve her another.</p><p>“Whoa there, pardner…!” Gura warned with her thick Southern drawl, “That’s your third glass. You know this punch has alcohol, right? Top shelf stuff too!”</p><p>“A-alcohol!?” Ina gasped in shock. She turned to Gura and hoped that she was lying, but the chambermaid held up the now-empty bottle of booze.</p><p>“I don’t know how to read this stuff…” Gura admitted, “But it’s nice and tasty!”</p><p>Ina looked at the bottle and saw the image of a blue-haired girl with Far Eastern writing on the label. She was able to read the label and recognize what it was.</p><p>‘Yukihana Seishu’</p><p>Japanese rice wine. ‘Sake’. It was the same kind that her father ‘Papa’nis’ kept hidden in their Ottawa home for special occasions.</p><p>“Ayy…” Ame piped up with concern, “Ina - didn’t you say that you couldn’t hold your alcohol well?”</p><p>Ina’s cheeks flushed red and she nodded bashfully. All of the sudden, the fruit punch that she had chugged down was starting to weigh down on her. So, she set down her glass and excused herself.</p><p>“I’ll… be back. I have an, um... emergency librarian meeting.” Ina gave the two a bow and scurried out of the reception area in a hurry.</p><p>Gura tilted her head and wondered out loud, “Librarian meeting!? Are we having a convention or something?”</p><p>Ame leaned over to Gura and whispered to her.</p><p>“Ohh…!” Gura hummed, “Is that what that means?”</p><p>Ame and Gura soon fell out of earshot and Ina marched toward the nearest restroom to do her business.</p><p>Inside the restroom, Ina got her affairs in order quickly and meticulously washed her hands. Finally away from the Lowry Expedition and the ominous tuxedo-clad staff, she heaved a sigh of relief. Her eyes then turned to her reflection in the ornate mirror of the restroom.</p><p>Her cheeks weren’t red in the slightest, Ina thought. Her dolled up image looked perfectly fine - even without having to retouch her face powder. She knew that she held her liquor quite well. As the daughter of a Far Eastern consul, she was a veteran of many official functions in Ottawa where drinks were served. A few cups of sake-spiked punch wasn’t going to bring her down anytime soon.</p><p>The true reason she told Ame that she couldn’t hold her liquor was because she was afraid of baring her true self to others. She had read plenty of books that detailed the uncanny ability of removing one’s inhibitions - and the aspiring librarian had a dignified image that she was determined to keep.</p><p>Still, Ina felt that her defenses were a notch lower. The fruit punch breached her walls just enough for her honest thoughts to threaten to overflow.</p><p>Ina looked at her reflection again and regarded her light makeup and her periwinkle dress closely. She was alone in the room, she reminded herself - so she decided to indulge and peek into the breach.</p><p>She then laid a gloved hand on the frame of the mirror and looked into her own dark purple eyes. Memories of the tender moments she spent with her gracious host Ame - and the many times that the detective laid her life and reputation on the line for her sake - resurfaced in her mind.</p><p>The alcohol then spurred her to hold her gloved hands close to her heart and squeal in the empty restroom, “Oh, Ame! If only you knew!”</p><p>Enamored by her thoughts, Ina stroked the mirror frame lovingly again and mused sweet nothings that she would have been too embarrassed to say otherwise. A spell of playfulness took hold of her heart and she whispered with a sultry voice.</p><p>“Oya oya… such a cute little detective made her way over here. What are you doing on the RMS Teutonic, hmm?”</p><p>A devilish smirk then formed on Ina’s lips as she was engrossed in her own performance. Images of the cute chambermaid Gura invaded her mind too, appearing suddenly like a thief in the night.</p><p>“<em> Humu humu… </em> I guess the chambermaid is cute too~” Ina admitted to no one in particular, “Good eye, detective. Good eye.”</p><p>“Oooh~!” A seemingly disembodied voice seemed to comment on Ina’s words with rising excitement, “Hey, hey - what do you like about m- I mean, t-the chambermaid?”</p><p>“The chambermaid?” Ina took a moment to think, “Well… she’s a better cook than I thought. A bit of an airhead - but that’s part of her charm. Looks-wise, her hair is actually pretty smooth and her skin is silky. Her hairclips are pretty cute - and her eyes! They’re almost as pretty as Ame’s!”</p><p>“Hee-yaaaa~!” The voice seemed to grow smug and excited, “You think my eyes are as pretty as Ame’s!?”</p><p>Ina was just about to agree when she realized that the voice wasn’t disembodied at all. She wasn’t alone in the mirror - or the restroom - anymore either. Standing beside her was the bubbly figure of the chambermaid Gura who was blushing from ear to ear. Ina’s face, on the other hand, went paler than powder.</p><p>“W-wah! H-h-how long h-have you b-been there!?”</p><p>Gura wiggled her eyebrows and teasingly repeated Ina’s words, “Since the ‘<em> Humu humu </em>~!’”</p><p>Ina covered her face with her hands. She wanted to disappear.</p><p>“Hey, don’t worry about it, Miss Ina. I appreciate the compliment.” Gura proudly reassured, “Plus, you’re way prettier than little ol’ me. You dress real nice! Your peeweewinkul dress matches your accessories - plus those gloves of yours are dangerously good! You’ve got the eye of a fashion designer, y’know that?”</p><p>Ina regarded herself in the mirror and hummed. She remembered just how much time she took planning her clothes for the banquet. So far, the only ones who had complemented her was Ame - and now Gura. So, Ina patted Gura’s head with her gloved hands.</p><p>“<em> Humu humu </em>. Thanks, Gura. But the word you were thinking of was ‘periwinkle’. That word you said just now was sketchy.”</p><p>“Ehehe~” Gura savored Ina’s headpat, practically beaming with delight.</p><p>Seeing Gura brightening up from her touch, Ina couldn’t help but smile. She finally saw why Ame was drawn to the chambermaid - and how they became friends so quickly. Aside from that, she quietly admitted  again that Gura was indeed cute.</p><p>“Oh by the way!” Gura started with a bright smile, “The banquet just started. I came here to fetch ya!”</p><p>“Is that so…?” Ina nodded, “Shall we get going, then?”</p><p>With that, the librarian let Gura guide her back to the banquet hall.</p><p>All the while, she hoped that she could one day be brave enough to be as honest as Ame and Gura - even without help from alcohol.</p><hr/><p>
  <b>Seventeenth Scene - The Skipper’s Supper</b>
</p><p> </p><p>When Ina was ushered into the banquet hall by Gura, the rest of the two dozen guests were already seated. A small army of servers was rushing to bring out an assortment of appetizers, wines and spirits. That army moved back and forth through the banquet hall - a small yet cozy room illuminated by wall-mounted lamps and a cast iron hearth that crackled under the ever-present portrait of Queen Victoria. Across the Queen’s portrait was a fresco depicting a triumphant Poseidon wielding a trident in the midst of a storm.</p><p>Ina briefly noticed Gura steal a glance of the fresco, but she never got the chance to see what sort of expression the chambermaid made. Before she could see anything, the chambermaid showed her to her seat beside Ame. Gura sat Ina down and then promptly excused herself to join her colleagues in the delayed dinner service.</p><p>Ame turned towards her and whispered, “Did the ‘meeting’ go okay?”</p><p>Ina chuckled and gave Ame a thumbs up.</p><p>Just as Ina had settled into her seat, however, the lively din of the room fell silent. Even the servers who were frantically trying to make up for lost time stopped in their tracks. All eyes in the banquet hall turned towards the front door. Ame and Ina followed suit.</p><p>There, they found the tall, imposing figure of First Mate Chadwick holding the door open.</p><p>“Ladies and gentlemen!” Chadwick proudly announced, “I present to you our skipper - Captain James Morrison, Esquire!”</p><p>An old, dignified gentleman stepped into the room with a slow but graceful gait. He had a balding head of white hair, a well-trimmed, short boxed beard and pale skin wrinkled by age, sun and sea. The captain wore a smart, peaked cap that bore the insignia of the RMS Teutonic, a double breasted coat with gold-trimmed pauldrons and matching slacks. All the while, he firmly held a long walked cane to balance his slightly hunched body.</p><p>The guests stood up from their seats and the waitstaff stopped whatever it was they were doing. Then, Ina watched them all vigorously applaud the captain as he crossed through the room to the head of the table. Ina eventually did the same, but her applause was halfhearted. After all, she wasn’t familiar with who Captain Morrison was and what he had done - aside from taking the helm of the Teutonic for the voyage.</p><p>Chadwick took the Captain’s hat and coat and then helped him sit down. That signalled the rest of the guests to follow suit. The delayed dinner service also continued once more and the captain addressed the guests with his strong and deep, albeit raspy voice.</p><p>“I apologize for the delay. Miss Chadwick and I had urgent matters to attend to on the bridge. Technology can be a curious, fickle thing. That said, welcome once again to the RMS Teutonic - pride of the White Star Line. We encountered rough waters sailing out of Portsmouth, but rest assured! I anticipate smooth sailing all the way to your final destination - Bordeaux <em> en belle France </em>.”</p><p>While the Captain spoke, Ina watched Chadwick quietly bring out a box of cigars, matches and a small brass guillotine. She saw Chadwick dutifully snip off the head of a cigar, light it with a match and offer it to the Captain.</p><p>Captain Morrison puffed his cigar slowly, illuminating his aged face with the embers before he blew out a plume of smoke.</p><p>“So please relax. Eat, drink and be merry! Enjoy the Teutonic’s amenities to the fullest.” The Captain continued his slow and measured spiel with another puff of his cigar, “You only live once, after all. Aye. You live only once.”</p><p>Something about the way the Captain spoke and the words he chose didn’t sit well with Ina. She had listened to more than her fair share of wise old men and women speaking with hifalutin vocabularies at official functions in Ottawa, but Captain Morrison seemed to emanate an ominous aura that Ina couldn’t quite put to words - an aura that only she seemed to be able to sense in that room.</p><p>When the main course was finally served, Ina couldn’t work up much of an appetite and she ate much slower than she normally would. Later on, when the plates were finally cleared from the long dining table, the Captain’s dark brown eyes scanned the room from left to right. Ina squirmed when the Captain’s eyes turned towards her and Ame. The Captain then wore a kindly smile.</p><p>“Before we have our dessert, I would like to honour our distinguished guests on this voyage to Bordeaux - brave young ladies who are searching for the great Phoenix in service to Her Majesty the Queen! Please rise so that you may be recognized for your adventurous spirits.”</p><p>Ophelia Lowry and her goons stood up from their seats and Ame followed suit. Ina, however, was stunned by the sudden call.</p><p>“C’mon Ina. Don’t be shy.” Ame offered her hand and reassured with a smile.</p><p>Ina bashfully took Ame’s hand and finally rose up from her chair. The guests in the banquet hall and the servers then applauded the five young women. Chadwick and the Captain too applauded them, but that only made her feel uneasy yet again.</p><p>While the ladies of the dueling expeditions were being acknowledged, Chadwick and the Captain invited them to share the details about their journey. Ophelia Lowry proudly obliged - rehashing the main points of Ina’s presentation to the Occidental College board. Ina sighed and quietly thanked Lowry for saving her the trouble of repeating herself for the n-th time. However, she couldn’t help but notice how keenly Chadwick and the Captain listened to the watered-down lecture.</p><p>By the time the dinner banquet ended, Ina was left with more questions than answers - and those questions followed her into her room.</p><hr/><p>
  <b>Eighteenth Scene - Whispers from the Void</b>
</p><p> </p><p>Ina and Ame took turns washing off their makeup in the small shared lavatory in their section of the Cabin-class halls and then changed into their soft pajamas to get ready for bed. When Ina switched off the electric lamp above their room and laid down on her bed, she thought that sleep would come quickly like it always did. However, she had an unusually hard time falling asleep. </p><p>Ina’s eyes looked up to the silver moon through the window as it peeked at her from behind the clouds. She racked her mind under the moonlight and looked back to the Captain’s words during the banquet - searching for patterns as if she were assessing a particularly tough and ancient tome in a forgotten library.</p><p>Half an hour of fruitless labor later, Ina surrendered. At that point, she just let her eyes follow the nighttime clouds as they sailed through the dark sky and counted them like cloudy sheep. Then her eyelids finally grew heavy.</p><p>Ina fell asleep in the blink of an eye and sank deep into the darkness of the eye of her mind. She felt her entire body descending gently into the black canvass of her dreamscape. Slowly but surely, her body transformed - taking on the form of the sketch that she made in her favorite sketchpad.</p><p>Wings sprouted from behind her waist and a bright golden halo formed over her head, illuminating the void. A golden tiara of stars crowned her head and her side bangs became irresistibly squishy and orange. The hair on the top of her head seemed to form a flap that wiggled as if it had a life of its own - and her left canine tooth became more pronounced like a fang.</p><p>Ina regarded herself in the void and admired the amalgam of the many sketches in her sketchpad fused with her being. As she was admiring her transfiguration a mysterious yet familiar presence shifted around in the darkness just beyond her reach.</p><p>“It’s you again…” Ina spoke with a frown forming on her lips.</p><p>The presence didn’t answer her. Instead, it coalesced into grey smoke that traced faint lines through the void as it flew around her.  This was unusual, she thought. That presence often appeared in her dreams in London for brief periods of time and disappeared as quickly as it came.</p><p>This time, the smoky presence remained in the void and drew wisps of light from Ina’s bright halo. The wisps of light soon formed a trail that cut cleanly through the darkness of the void. Then, the smoky presence whirled around - as if it were urging Ina to follow it.</p><p>Not knowing what else to do, Ina obliged.</p><p>As Ina carried on through the path, the trail of light gradually intensified but remained gentle enough for her eyes. Before she knew it, Ina was walking through those halls and she followed the smoky presence.</p><p>The smoky presence shifted once more and slowly coalesced into the rough shape of a slender, black-haired lady who was only slightly taller than her. This lady walked briskly, so Ina struggled to keep up with her.</p><p>Ina had to play catch up a few paces behind, so she only managed to see the lady’s strong shoulders, her long yet fashionable traveling coat from the latest turn-of-the-century French fashion and ornate Italian shoes that only someone with the checkbook of Ophelia Lowry would have been able to best.</p><p>Aside from that, Ina did catch glimpses of the temples of glasses resting on top of the lady’s ears. Those temples, however, seemed to be made of a material that even the well-read Ina couldn’t seem to recognize.</p><p>While Ina was racking her brains over the material of the lady’s glasses, the lady stopped in her tracks. It was one of the doors in the Second-Class ‘Cabin’ section of the Teutonic, clearly marked by a wooden number plate nailed to the frame. </p><p>Room 88.</p><p>When the lady laid her hand on the doorknob, a bright light burst out from behind the door and blinded Ina. She was forced to shield her eyes from the intense while the lady stepped inside. Soon enough, the bright light whisked Ina away from the eye of her mind.</p><p>Her transfigurations came undone - and the groggy dreamer awakened.</p><hr/><p>
  <b>Nineteenth Scene - The Librarian’s Case</b>
</p><p> </p><p>Ina woke up that morning with a sour face. The light of the late morning sun flooded into their room through the circular window, causing her to wince and turn to her side. From there, she saw her pajama-clad companion, Ame, sitting at their room’s table while munching on a piece of toast. The detective occasionally took sips of a small cup of tea as she thumbed through a folded sheet of paper.</p><p>Ame noticed Ina stirring in her bed and flashed her a smile.</p><p>“Morning, Ina!” The detective greeted warmly, “Gura came by with breakfast - and I bought the morning newspaper from her too! Just 99 pence!”</p><p>“Morning newspaper…? On a boat?” Ina sat upright and rubbed her eyes, “We didn’t make any stops did we?”</p><p>“They print this newspaper on board, apparently.” Ame explained cheerfully, “The ship gets news the latest by wireless telegraph and the staff type it out for passengers like this. This technology stuff’s pretty neat!”</p><p>“Is that so…?” Ina hummed. She peeled herself off of her bed, joined Ame at the table and read the headline out loud, “‘Distress call from Atlantic Ocean - Portsmouth Squadron sorties posthaste’.”</p><p>“Kinda scary, right? Even Gura was fretting about it for some reason, actually.” Ame mused and took another sip of tea, “Well - if the Royal Navy’s on the case, they should be able to resolve the issue… whatever it is.”</p><p>“<em> Humu humu </em>.” Ina agreed. She picked up a piece of toast and sleepily nibbled on it.</p><p>Then, the strange dream that she had resurfaced in her thoughts. Images of the door to Room 88 - paired with the Captain’s cryptic speeches - floated around in her mind and spurred her to action. Those thoughts wouldn’t give her any peace. So she set down her barely eaten toast and excused herself.</p><p>“I, uh… have an emergency librarian meeting.” Ina spoke hesitantly.</p><p>“Alright… but don’t take too long.” Ame lowered her newspaper and urged, “Your coffee’s gonna get cold.”</p><p>Ina nodded, slipped into some summer sandals and stepped out of the room.  She closed the door behind her and regarded the number tag nailed to the frame.</p><p>“Room 57…” Ina whispered beneath her breath. Her eyes then turned towards the long hallway of the Cabin section and she whispered again, “That means it should be down here.”</p><p>The apprentice librarian took a deep breath and slowly walked down the hallway. Her eyes swept from left to right as the numbers nailed to the doors that she passed by gradually rose. All the while, she avoided the staff of the RMS Teutonic and the other passengers.</p><p>She wore uncomfortable smiles and lowered her head like a potted plant to try and blend with the wallpaper of the Cabin-class halls. Once the coast was clear, she would then continue her slow crawl of a journey. Despite her steady pace, Ina’s heart seemed to beat harder and faster against her chest with each door that she passed by.</p><p>“84… 85… 86… 87…” Ina read the door numbers with rising tension and anticipation, “And then…! Huh…?”</p><p>When Ina reached the door to Room 88, she saw that the number plate of the door had been removed. Only the holes where the nails of the number plate once were remained. Everything else was just as she remembered in her dream.</p><p>This was the room where the elusive black-haired woman walked into. There was no doubt in Ina’s mind.</p><p>However, when Ina tried to open the door, the knob wouldn’t budge. It was locked!</p><p>Ina heaved a sigh and then rubbed her chin, wondering what she should do next. That was when two pairs of footsteps suddenly reached her ears. The librarian’s face grew pale and sweat formed on her brow. Her hands trembled at her sides as she turned around in abject fear - afraid that she had been caught doing something that she shouldn’t have.</p><p>That was when she heard Gura’s cute voice greet her.</p><p>“Hewwo Inaaaa~!”</p><p>From across the hall, the chambermaid clad in her cleaning uniform waved to her with a feather duster in hand.</p><p>“Gura…?” Ina’s heart nearly stopped. Her eyes then turned to the other pair of footsteps and added, “Ame too…?”</p><p>Ina’s detective partner approached from the other hallway. She had already slipped out of her pajamas and was wearing her usual tan traveling coat and hat.</p><p>“You didn’t come back to finish your breakfast, so I thought something happened to you.” The detective explained, scratching the back of her head with concern, “I asked Gura to help me look for you - and I even brought my doctor’s bag too.”</p><p>“I-is that so?” Ina stammered. This time, she found herself unable to find the right words to say.</p><p>An uneasy pause lingered in the empty hallway before Ina gathered the courage to speak again.</p><p>“Say, Gura.” Ina shifted the topic, “Would you happen to know who is staying in Room 88? Or maybe who is servicing it?”</p><p>Gura shook her head and apologized.</p><p>“Miss Chadwick didn’t have cleaning staff assigned to this part of the Cabin-class section.” The chambermaid answered honestly, “Nobody really comes around here. We don’t have any guests here either. But Miss Chadwick’s staff does regular patrols in these parts every fifteen minutes.”</p><p>Ina rubbed her chin and started to pace around - mimicking the way that Ame gathered her thoughts before a major exam. The librarian’s eyes then wandered from Ame’s doctor’s bag to Gura’s shark-patterned hairpins - then to the locked door of Room 88.</p><p>Suddenly, the bell of a small wall-mounted clock rang - marking the half hour. Ina then joined her hands together and her dark purple eyes brightened up like lightbulbs.</p><p>“In that case… I don’t have time to explain, but… may I borrow your hairpins, Gura?” Ina asked with an eager smile. She then turned to Ame as well and added, “And may I borrow your stethoscope too, Ame?”</p><p>“Huh…!?” Gura gasped with shock, “What in the world are you planning to do?”</p><p>“I’m going to pick the lock of this door.” Ina explained plainly, raising up her pointer finger as if she was giving a presentation in the Occidental College, “I have read many books about the methods used by Mr. Harry Houdini. I’m sure that I can replicate his processes… theoretically.”</p><p>Ina’s theoretical claim about theoretical lockpicking knowledge didn’t sit well with Gura at all. After all, she knew that snooping around like this would put her in hot water with Miss Chadwick. The chambermaid was about to outright refuse Ina’s request when a playful smirk formed on Ame’s lips. The detective popped open her doctor’s bag and handed her stethoscope to Ina - no questions asked.</p><p>“You’re just going to let her do as she wants, Ame!?” Gura squeaked in protest, “Miss Chadwick’s guards are going to come by here soon, you dummies!”</p><p>“It’s not everyday that Ina has her heart set on something like this. I’m sure she has a good reason.” Ame grinned, “And besides - I don’t mind going on a little adventure!”</p><p>Ina looked at the hesitant Gura and saw a reflection of herself from when she was still in London - afraid of losing her job at Dr. Watson’s medical practice. Knowing this, she reached out to Gura with a warm smile and reassured her with tender, wholehearted words.</p><p>“Don’t worry about it, Gura. Trust me.”</p><p>Gura puffed up her cheeks in protest, but she lost the will to fight just as quickly. After all, the look in Ina’s eyes told her that she had already made up her mind. So, the chambermaid carefully took off one of her hairpins and reluctantly handed it to Ina.</p><p>“Thanks, Gura.” Ina nodded graciously.</p><p>Now armed with Gura’s hairpin and Ame’s stethoscope, Ina began to pick the lock of the door to Room 88. Ame folded her arms and leaned against the walls while she watched one end of the hallway. Gura, on the other hand, fidgeted around and twirled her hair as she watched the other.</p><p>Soon enough, Ina heard a series of clicks through the stethoscope and the door was unlocked! Ina’s face brightened up - but she didn’t have time to celebrate.</p><p>Footsteps echoed and shadows shifted from Gura’s side of the hallway and the chambermaid gasped.</p><p>“G-guys!” Gura panicked, “What do we do!?”</p><p>Ina opened the door to Room 88 and promptly dragged Ame and Gura inside. She closed and locked the door behind them and then scanned through the mysterious locked room. All the while, the footsteps from the halls grew louder and louder. Then, she heard the jingle of a heavy keyring swaying from side to side.</p><p>The patrol wasn’t stopping at any of the other rooms, Ina realized. It was going straight for Room 88 - and Ina knew that they needed to hide.</p><p>But where!?</p><p>The room was just like Ame’s and Ina’s cabin, but it was in a state of disarray. The light of the noontime sun shining through the small circular window showed them the extent of the damage. The mattresses of the two beds had been turned over while the rest of the furniture was either broken or missing. It looked like the whole place had been ransacked some time ago.</p><p>The footsteps drew closer again and prodded Ina to think harder. Gura covered her mouth and her face went pale. Ame, on the other hand, popped open the holster at her hip and seriously considered drawing her gun.</p><p>That was when Ina’s eyes found the sliding door of the walk-in closet at the corner of the room - one of the few things there that was only slightly damaged.</p><p>“Inside the closet. Let’s go!” Ina urged. She dragged Ame and Gura with her towards the closet door.</p><p>“The closet!?” Gura squeaked in protest, “W-we’re not gonna fit in there!”</p><p>“We’re going to have to try.” Ina spoke with odd calmness, “Let’s go.”</p><p>With nowhere else to go, Ame, Ina and Gura stuffed themselves into the walk-in closet in that order with all of their things in tow. They struggled to close the closet door but eventually managed to do so. Once they did, Ina found herself sandwiched between the detective and the chambermaid - packed tighter than a tin of sardines.</p><p>Stuck in that hot, sultry darkness with these two dorks, Ina normally would have considered to be fortunate. It wasn’t everyday that Ina had an excuse to bury her face in the bosom of a busty detective - or feel the tender embrace of an unbearably cute, blushing chambermaid ambushing her from behind. Her excitement, however, was painted with anxiety when the room door was unlocked again with a loud click that echoed even in the closet.</p><p>The door creaked open and two pairs of footsteps walked through the threshold. Ina mustered up her willpower to steady her breath and look out through the wooden grills of the closet. Two souls then paced around the room and took a careful look around.</p><p>“Are you sure you heard someone come by here?” The voice of Jackie Chadwick asked impatiently, followed by the sound of the heavy keyring being twirled around, “Nobody really comes here anymore - and there’s nothing left in this room.”</p><p>The Chadwick that was speaking there had dropped all pretense of the formal speech that she often spoke with in front of guests. Instead, this Chadwick spoke casually without any filter whatsoever and gave the speechless second soul a scalding tirade.</p><p>“Goodness gracious - how do you kids hope to keep up with your boy at this rate? How hard is it to keep watch over this one damn room!? Think you can handle fieldwork? Think you can climb the mountaintop!? Don’t kid me! You wouldn’t last a day.”</p><p>While Chadwick was speaking, the foghorn of the Teutonic blew four times in quick succession. The two shadows in the room seemed to turn their heads toward the sound of the horn.</p><p>Uneasy silence followed the horn. The air in the room then seemed to turn frigid.</p><p>“Gather up the staff.” Chadwick then spoke with a serious, businesslike tone, “Tell them it’s almost time. You know the drill.”</p><p>The shadow of the second soul seemed to salute Chadwick’s - and the two of them left the room in a hurry. They closed the door behind them and locked it from the outside.</p><p>Just what in the world was Miss Jackie Chadwick and her staff up to?</p><hr/><p>
  <b>Epilogue</b>
</p><p> </p><p>The three girls stuffed in the closet stayed there for a little while longer. They counted their nervous heartbeats for about a minute before they finally wiggled out of the cramped space.</p><p>On their way out, however, Ame stumbled and fell back first onto the dusty floor. Ina came tumbling out of the closet and landed on Ame’s chest - followed by Gura who fell on Ina’s back. When they fell, a thin layer of dust that had caked on the room’s carpet was disturbed and came flying all around the room.</p><p>The three girls had coughing fits as they slowly peeled themselves off of each other. Gura covered her face and frantically dusted off her uniform. She then pointed to her two guests and lectured them.</p><p>“Is that how the two of you bond!? Skinship is one thing - but that was something else! You guys are crazy! I’m losing my marbles just bein’ around you two!”</p><p>Ame and Ina looked at each other bashfully and stayed silent. After all, the two of them knew that Gura wasn’t exactly wrong. The chambermaid then had a look around the ransacked room and shook her head.</p><p>“But seriously - what in tarnation went down in here?” Gura rambled, clicking her tongue with displeasure, “It’s like Shenandoah River all over again…”</p><p>Shenandoah River?</p><p>Neither Ame nor Ina dared to ask. Just as Ame was about to ask what possessed Ina to break into this room in the first place, the chambermaid gasped.</p><p>“...A!”</p><p>One of the wooden panels from inside the closet came undone and fell down onto the dusty floor. Ame and Ina rose up from the rug and joined Gura to look inside the closet.</p><p>There, behind the place where the wooden panel once was, they found a small, dark hole that had been carved into the plaster of the walls. From where they stood, however, the three of them saw the outline of some things inside.</p><p>Ame squatted down and reached into the darkness and pulled out the items. They were three distinct envelopes.</p><p>All of them bore a distinct, triangle-shaped blue wax seal.</p><p>Just like Ame’s.</p><p>
  <b>To Be Continued</b>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Oya oya~ History lesson time. The industry of food preservation was forever changed by canning - food in sealed cans tended to last longer and revolutionized the world in that time. That's why having two kinds of seafood packed tight with a generous helping of salt is a part of a healthy Victorian Era diet.</p><p>Joking aside, it is every Takodachi's dream to be pressed between two walls. SAN points will be lost.</p><p>But yes, I will start to make some post-chapter notes like these from hereon out. They will have some minor spoilers for the current chapter - so don't read these notes before you read the chapter. That's why they're post-chapter notes, b-baka...</p><p>Lots of folks tend to wish to be treated like royalty - but it's really a life of no privacy and formal functions that drain the life out of everything. Ina's life in Ottawa as the daughter of the Far Eastern consul was like this - so being on her own in London, and now on the RMS Teutonic with Ame is a change of pace that Ina is getting used to. She doesn't dislike it though. As a matter of fact, she likes it a lot - maybe too much. Keeping feelings like that bottled up for too long may result in flirting with yourself in a mirror... though that might not always be a bad thing~</p><p>Also, don't spike the fruit punch bowl if you don't want to cause trouble. It sounds fun on paper - and it sometimes is fun - but it can also go real wrong real fast. Trust me on this.</p><p>As for Captain Morrison - you know that dude with the beard on High Liner Foods bags? Those bags of frozen haddock and packs of shrimp skewers. Well that's the skipper for you - but older. He has a different hat too - unless the bags you get in store have the guy without the hat. Or without the guy at all.</p><p>In any case, he's an old guard (read: <strike>boomer</strike>) who doesn't get how the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Machine works. Chadwick had to play tech support for half an hour.</p><p>Having Ina as a protagonist - or rather the focal character - made me have to shift a lot of things compared to when Ame was steering the ship. She's more of a thinker than a doer - unlike Ame who does things before thinking sometimes. However, when Ina does want something - she goes for it with 100% commitment. She is also a bookworm who can apply a lot of the things she reads practically - if she reads enough Houdini books, she'll be able to escape a locked box. Though, she may have to work on her stamina to do that successfully.</p><p>I also had another revelation writing this chapter - most of the Hololive costumes would be 140% yabai in the Victorian era. It reminded me of why Ame, Ina, Gura and Kiara have long traveling coats and why Calli was fully hooded too. You know what they say - when in Rome...</p><p>'The Librarian's Case' is a nod to Stephen King's Sherlock Holmes story 'The Doctor's Case' where Dr. Watson solves the case instead of Sherlock Holmes. Ina has been unassertive and shy for the first few chapters of this story - so this is her taking the reins boldly and confidently. Her debut stream, if you will~</p><p>I think she did a good job, yea~?</p><p>And then, the three mysterious envelopes appear. Things on the Teutonic are about to get wild~! Look forward to it.</p><p>Elias</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Marooned</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hoh, I managed to write four chapters this month hehe. I might be able to keep going at this pace hehe~ but my commitment for 3-4 chapters a month stands. Life gets rough sometimes, yo.</p><p>In any case, without further ado - I present to you Chapter 7 of AlterMyth!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <b>Prologue</b>
</p><p> </p><p>The door of Room 88 opened with an odd creak but stayed just slightly ajar from the frame. Ame, Ina and Gura dared to peeked out from behind the door. There was no more trace of Jackie Chadwick or the First Mate’s staff member in the hall and the entire section was as quiet as a Bedfordshire winter.</p><p>That was the cue for the trio to sneak out of Room 88, close and lock the door behind them. Then, they carefully make their way back to Ame’s and Ina’s cabin - Room 57 - far down the hall.</p><p>On their way back, they watched the halls carefully and listened for the distinct sound of the heavy jackboots that Chadwick’s staff. They were prepared to scram and flee at the drop of a hat.</p><p>However, there were no members of Chadwick’s staff lurking there either. They only found Cabin-class guests loafing around, sipping fruity cocktails without a care in the world. So, the girls counted their blessings and picked up their pace - making a beeline for Room 57 without any incident.</p><p>Once they were back inside the room, Ame locked their door and made sure that it wouldn’t budge. Only then did she start breathing again, causing a dizzy spell to nearly rob her of her balance. Gura, on the other hand, was the first one to slump onto a chair at the cabin’s table.</p><p>“Do you crazy ladies mind telling me what the heck went on just now!?” Gura complained, baring her noticeably sharp teeth. She then glared at Ame and then at Ina, demanding an explanation.</p><p>Ina, already winded from their little adventure, plopped down onto Ame’s bed. Ame, meanwhile, sat across from Gura at the table and set down her now dusty doctor’s bag between them. She brought out the three envelopes - all of which bore the distinctly blue, triangle-shaped seals - that they found behind the wooden panels of Room 88.</p><p>“These are letters from the ‘Cover Corporation’. There’s no return address though, so we can’t really dig into where they are or what their charter is.” Ame explained with a cautious tone, “They’re just like the one that I got in Bedfordshire a few months ago… but these ones were never mailed. Look here.”</p><p>Ame tapped on the top right corner of each envelope, pointing out the lack of stamps or postage.</p><p>“So some airhead forgot to bring some mail to the post office?” Gura tested impatiently, “What’s that got to do with us?”</p><p>“Well… about that.” Ame took Gura’s venom in stride and just wore an uncomfortable smile. She then spread out the three envelopes on the table and continued, “Two of these letters are addressed to you and Ina.”</p><p>“What…!?” Gura rose up from her chair and bore down on Ame and the envelopes, “There’s no way in the world… I haven’t kept the same address for a long time!”</p><p>She picked up the letter that was supposedly addressed to her, hoping to call Ame’s bluff. Ame wasn’t bluffing, though. The letter was indeed addressed to her. The address listed there was a Post Office in West Virginia - the one in the small nondescript town that she had been staying at before she journeyed to London. That made Gura’s jaw drop in awe.</p><p>While Gura fidgeted about how the mysterious sender got her address from a few months ago, Ame handed Ina the letter addressed to her.</p><p>“<em> Humu humu </em>…” Ina remarked calmly, “This one was addressed to the Far Eastern consulate in Ottawa. It’s marked for the ‘personal mail’ dropbox too. Impressive attention to detail.”</p><p>Once Gura had calmed down, she and Ina broke the blue seals of their respective envelopes and read through the letters addressed to them within. Meanwhile, Ame closed her eyes and recited the contents of her own letter. She had memorized that letter from Cover Corporation by heart when she received it in Bedfordshire and burned it to her memory, so she recited it word for word.</p><p>Ina and Gura then turned to Ame with shock. Their letters had the exact same contents as Ame’s recollection. The letters were invitations to sit down at the English Maiden cafe in London to discuss the ‘opportunity of a lifetime’. Only the recipient’s name at the top of the letter was different - but everything else was the exact same.</p><p>“If your letters had been delivered just like mine was, the three of us might have met at the English Maiden cafe in London.” Ame remembered the day like it was yesterday. She heaved a sigh and groaned, “I waited for more than an hour there, but nobody came… not even the one who wrote these damn letters.”</p><p>“Ame…” Ina spoke softly with concern.</p><p>She recalled the expectant look that Ame had when she was asked if she knew about the Cover Corporation letters - and the poorly veiled disappointment that followed when she said ‘no’.</p><p>“It’s been on my mind all this time.” Ame admitted bitterly, “I was hoping that the letter I got was some sort of hoax - that I could just ignore it and move on… but now? I’m curious.”</p><p>Gura looked at her letter under the light of the electric lamp above them and thought out loud.</p><p>“Me too, Ame. I mean… how long have these letters been stuck in that room? Why was the room messed up like that?” The maid’s blue eyes then sharpened, “And why didn’t Miss Chadwick tell us staff anything about it?”</p><p>Ame nodded patiently. Then, she turned Ina.</p><p>“So… how did you find that room, Ina?” The detective asked, “You didn’t stop at any of the other doors when we tailed you. You were drawn to Room 88 specifically. Why?”</p><p>Ina’s shoulders drooped for a moment, but she soon gathered up her resolve to speak.</p><p>“I had a dream last night.” The librarian started firmly, “There was a smoky figure - a lady with strange glasses and black hair with a cowlick. It was just like the one described in the letter. She was walking through the halls of the RMS Teutonic and she seemed like she was in a hurry. I saw her going into Room 88 and then…”</p><p>“And then…?” Ame and Gura asked in unison.</p><p>“And then my dream ended.” Ina apologized, drawing grunts of frustration from her captive audience. The librarian shook her head and insisted, “But that’s why I knew I had to check out Room 88. I didn’t know how to tell you about it, Ame. I mean, I didn’t know if I believed it myself.”</p><p>Gura leaned forward on the table and heaved a sigh. A puzzled expression lingered on her face and she looked like she was still struggling to comprehend the story.</p><p>Moments later, Ina’s stomach suddenly grumbled audibly. The noise filled the room, making the librarian blush from ear to ear. Gura’s stomach then answered back, rumbling louder than Ina’s. The chambermaid and the librarian turned to each other in that impasse and laughed.</p><p>With that, Gura got up from her chair and made her way to the door. She laid her hand on the knob, turned back to her two guests and grinned at them.</p><p>“How about this? I’ll go grab us some snacks. We missed lunch service, but there should still be some good stuff.” The chambermaid cheerfully proposed. Her eyes then lit up and she added, “Oh, and we got some poppin’ corn and sammiches… oooh! And some shrimp scampi for three!”</p><p>Ame and Ina thanked Gura and the chambermaid excused herself. Gura exited the room, locking and then closing the door behind her, and left Ame and Ina alone in the room once more.</p><p>Ina got up from Ame’s bed and sat across from the detective. She then pointed to the last remaining envelope on the table.</p><p>“So… to whom is the last one addressed to?”</p><p>Ame picked up the envelope and looked at the blue wax seal for a moment. Then, she turned it around and read what she saw.</p><p>“It’s addressed to a… Calliope Mori? The address is just… ‘East’.”</p><p>“East?” Ina tilted her head, “As in, the Far East? Near East? Middle East? East Coast?”</p><p>“I wish I could tell you, Ina.” Ame answered with a shrug, “Whoever wrote these letters was probably on a tight schedule. The wax seal on this one was hastily done - and the address wasn’t complete. They probably had to hide it in the closet panels in a hurry too… but why?”</p><p>The two girls racked their minds and shared their theories about the case with each other. They had a lively back-and-forth at first but a common thread of suspicion slowly spun through all of their theories.</p><p>“Do you think Miss Chadwick and her staff have something to do with this, Ame?” Ina then proposed.</p><p>“Probably. There’s only one way to find out.” Ame answered firmly. She set down the letter on the table, adjusted her hat and then declared, “We oughtta pay Miss Chadwick a visit… and we might need Gura’s help on this one. This case might just be bigger than our Phoenix Expedition, after all.”</p><p>Just as Ame was about to stand up from her chair, there was suddenly a loud pounding on the door. Ina’s face went pale and she sheepishly hid behind the table. Ame, on the other hand, drew out her Webley revolver and then pointed it at the door.</p><p>“Who’s there!?” Ame demanded, watching the door from behind the iron sights of her gun.</p><p>“It’s me!” Gura’s muffled voice reached their ears, but the chambermaid sounded troubled.</p><p>So, Ame steadied her breath and slowly approached the door. All the while, she kept her revolver at the ready. She then opened the door and saw Gura panting heavily behind it.</p><p>“Gura…?” Ame asked, “What’s wrong?”</p><p>Gura lowered her head and stammered,</p><p>“M-miss Chadwick… and all of her staff are gone!”</p><hr/><p>
  <b>AlterMyth</b>
</p><p>
  <em> Marooned </em>
</p><hr/><p>
  <b>Twentieth Scene - Without A Trace</b>
</p><p> </p><p>Seeds of chaos started taking root amongst the passengers of the RMS Teutonic when word about the disappearance of the crew spread like wildfire. Ame, Ina and Gura were walking through the halls of the Teutonic where they heard the desperate back-and-forth between the passengers badgering the few remaining crew members.</p><p>“Miss Chadwick and her many teams were in charge of various parts of the boat.” Gura nervously explained, “My department was Service and just about all of my colleagues were Miss Chadwick’s direct subordinates. There were dozens of them assigned as attendants to the luxury ‘Saloon’ class rooms and to the standard ‘Cabin’ class rooms.”</p><p>“Is that why those luxury passengers are raising up a stink?” Ame hummed, “They probably can’t survive without a glass of brandy or cognac every hour.”</p><p>When the three girls entered the central stairwell of the Teutonic, the prying eyes of puzzled Saloon-class passengers darted towards Gura and the maid’s headdress that she wore. Those luxury passengers were like sharks who had sensed the presence of fresh, bloody meat in the ocean and it made Gura squirm.</p><p>“Stay calm, Gura, and follow my lead.” Ame calmly whispered. She started walking ahead of Gura and reassured her, “We’re going to the Bridge to see the Captain.”</p><p>“Let’s follow Ame for now.” Ina reassured as well, walking behind Gura this time, “We’ll figure out what’s going on. Together.”</p><p>The two of them shielded Gura from those prying eyes and cut a path for them through the crowded stairwell. A small, appreciative smile formed on Gura’s lips and she followed her guests up the staircases - all the way up to the fourth floor.</p><p>Normally, Gura explained to her valiant guests, this section was closed off to the passengers and to most of the crew. However, the tuxedo-clad guards who were supposed to be posted there were noticeably absent. Neither the velvet rope barriers or the ‘off-limits’ sign moved to stop the trio either. Virtually unopposed, they reached the top floor and the double wooden doors to the Bridge.</p><p>Ame took both knobs in her hands and turned them together. She then opened the doors and marched into the Bridge - only to find the entire room empty. All of the equipment - from the ship’s wheel to the cranks controlling the Teutonic’s twin engines to the navigational sextant - were left unattended.</p><p>Despite this, there were traces of a myriad of footprints on the polished wooden floor of the deck and dozens of cigarettes snuffed out in ashtrays scattered around the room. Ame took one of the ashtrays and saw the squashed remains of a peculiar cigar among the cigarettes. It was the same brand that Captain Morrison smoked at the banquet.</p><p>“The entire crew was in here not too long ago. Maybe a little longer.” Ame deduced. She set down the overstuffed ashtray, walked over to the wide panel windows overlooking the deck of the ship and continued, “But they all left in a hurry. All this tobacco didn’t burn for long.”</p><p>Her eyes then turned to the framed picture of Queen Victoria and the expensive-looking statuettes affixed to the corners of the room. All of those valuables were left completely untouched, making Ame hum.</p><p>“It wasn’t a robbery job. It can’t be a mutiny either…” She ruled out, “So, why were they here!?”</p><p>Before Ame could say anything else, the double doors of the bridge burst open again. This time, the three girls of the Lowry Expedition appeared and entered the bridge too. Ophelia Lowry broke ranks with her goons and made a beeline for Ame.</p><p>“Where’s Captain Morrison!? Where’s Miss Chadwick!?” Lowry demanded in a blitz, “Answer me, Watson!”</p><p>Ame straightened up her back and met Lowry head on, looking her straight in the eyes.</p><p>“Chadwick and the Captain aren’t here. Open your eyes, Lowry.” Ame growled, “They’re gone - without a trace!”</p><p>“Bullshit!” Lowry lashed, pushing back against Ame, “Tell me where they are or else I’ll beat it out of you!”</p><p>“I’m telling the truth!” Ame insisted.</p><p>All of the sudden, the light of the afternoon sun that had been flowing in through the windows of the Bridge was blocked by thick, dark clouds. Ame and Lowry looked out the windows and saw those clouds stretched out over the horizon, accompanied by heavy fog and menacing flashes of lightning.</p><p>“A summer storm… this far out at sea? My God… look at those clouds and waves!” Lowry remarked with a frown, “Didn’t Captain Morrison say we would have smooth sailing to Bordeaux!?”</p><p>Strong waves started crashing against the RMS Teutonic, causing the vessel to rise and then fall dangerously. Gusts of strong winds also threatened to capsize the supposedly mighty vessel. Panicked, albeit muffled screams from the roughly twelve hundred souls remaining on board the ocean liner rose up to the Bridge.</p><p>“There’s a lot of things Captain Morrison and Miss Chadwick didn’t seem to tell us, Lowry.” Ame interjected more firmly, “By the looks of it, we’re sailing right into a storm without a crew. We have to take control of this ship, so the last thing we need is to fight each other. Otherwise, neither of us will make it out of this alive - or even catch that damn Phoenix.”</p><p>Lightning flashed outside the windows of the Bridge again, followed by the deafening rumble of thunder. So, Ame and Ophelia turned to each other and shook hands.</p><p>Gura, Ina and the two goons looked on, holding back their displeasure with the arrangement.</p><p>So, with that handshake, the Watson and Lowry Expeditions would work together.</p><p>For now.</p><hr/><p>
  <b>Twenty-First Scene - All Hands On Deck</b>
</p><p> </p><p>For the next two hours or so, Gura and the girls of the combined expeditions worked together to take control of the abandoned RMS Teutonic. They established their headquarters in the banquet hall on the third floor of the midship, assigned tasks and then got to work.</p><p>At the top of the second hour, Ame, Ina and Gura returned to the banquet hall where Ophelia Lowry was waiting for them. The College Chairman’s daughter was seated behind the fresco of the trident-wielding Poseidon and was nursing on a glass of cognac on the rocks that she had poured for herself.</p><p>Ame took the seat across from Lowry and her two companions followed suit. Lowry furrowed her brow when she saw Ame, but her expression grew bitter when her honey-brown eyes turned to Gura.</p><p>“What’s a chambermaid doing here, Watson? Didn’t you say the crew of the Teutonic left us for dead!?” Lowry grumbled, channeling the rage of Poseidon himself, “What if she’s one of them?”</p><p>Gura shrank in her seat under Lowry’s piercing gaze, but Ame promptly interjected.</p><p>“Gura has nothing to do with the disappearance.” Ame spoke firmly, “She and the rest of the crew who are still on the boat weren’t told anything by Miss Chadwick. They’re victims here too, Lowry.”</p><p>“Y-yeah…” Gura added sheepishly at first, but a small flame of courage started to burn in her heart, “There’s about twenty of us crew left. Boiler room stokers. Mechanics. Maids. Cooks. We’re not ‘key personnel’ but we’ll keep the ship running. This is a big boat and we’re just as scared as everyone else -  but we’ll keep the passengers as happy as we can if you let us do our jobs!”</p><p>Lowry tested Gura’s resolve once more with another piercing glare, but the chambermaid didn’t turn away this time. So, Lowry decided to back down for now.</p><p>“I dispatched my bodyguards to help keep the peace. If their words can’t reach the passengers, a warning shot from their rifles probably will.” Lowry folded her arms and then looked up to the ceiling, “Meanwhile, my two friends are up on the bridge trying to figure out how far off we are from Bordeaux. It seems Captain Morrison brought us intentionally off course.”</p><p>“Those two? The musclehead and the stick?” Ame frowned, “Will they be able to do that?”</p><p>“That ‘musclehead’ was the First Mate on the bridge of one of her father’s clipper ships, so she knows how to steer a boat through a storm. And that ‘stick’ is a genius mathematician who can do things with a compass and a sextant that you wouldn’t believe.” Lowry countered flatly. Her eyes then met with Ame’s as she threatened, “And those two are my friends, Watson. I won’t have you bad-mouthing them like this - or I’ll beat you up when we get to Bordeaux.”</p><p>Ame was tempted for a moment to ask Lowry what her super-power was, but she already knew the answer to that question. So, the detective just leaned back into her seat.</p><p>“At least you’re still confident we’ll get there. That’s reassuring.” Ame snorted, “Let’s get back to business, shall we?”</p><p>Lowry sighed and proceeded to share notes about the many oddities that she and her men found throughout the RMS Teutonic while taking control of the vessel. They reported that all twenty of the lifeboats on board had been removed overnight. The Marconi Telegraph Room was also apparently ransacked, leaving all of the electrical equipment there useless. Then, to make matters worse, they saw that the twin triple-expansion engines of the Teutonic were long overdue for maintenance, forcing the vessel to move forward at slow ahead or risk a crippling breakdown.</p><p>Gura then spoke and relayed what the rest of the remaining crew told her. She was told that the Teutonic had just enough coal to power through the storm and steer the vessel to Bordeaux. There was enough water and food to feed everyone on board for three square meals too. All they had to do was keep the ship afloat, sail slow and steady to their destination and keep everyone on board calm.</p><p>Lowry rested her elbow on the table with displeasure, but she accepted Gura’s report nonetheless. Her honey-brown eyes then turned to Ame and Ina.</p><p>“That’s all from us, Watson.” Lowry concluded. She then took a sip of her cognac and asked with rare, businesslike candor, “So what did you and the librarian find out?”</p><p>“Quite a bit.” Ame started cordially as well. She brought out her doctor’s bag and pulled out a myriad of documents that she spread out on the table, “So then, do you want the bad news or the bad news?”</p><hr/><p>
  <b>Twenty-Second Scene - Floating Coffin</b>
</p><p> </p><p>Ame passed her dossier of documents across the table to Lowry. The dossier sailed through the well-varnished surface of the table and reached the arm of the chairman’s daughter.</p><p>“Those are carbon-copies of documents that I found in the Captain’s quarters and Miss Chadwick’s office.” Ame started firmly, following along as Lowry inspected the dossier, “There’s a written statement from Captain Morrison refusing an order from the White Star Line Company to bring the Teutonic to drydock for the overdue maintenance.”</p><p>Ina laid her hands on the table and continued, “Captain Morrison’s reasoning was that ‘<em> the Teutonic can make one final journey to France </em> ’ and urged the executives to ‘ <em> think of the bottom line’ </em>.”</p><p>“We could end up at the bottom of the sea because of that bastard!” Lowry hissed as she read Morrison’s appeal, “What else did you get?”</p><p>“A copy of a bill of work signed by Captain Morrison and Miss Chadwick.” Ina introduced this time, “The Teutonic can be converted into a merchant marine cruiser at the request of the British Admiralty in times of war. She was fitted with eight QF 4.7-inch naval guns and a handful of Maxim machine guns for self-defense. Captain Morrison had all these weapons removed at Portsmouth.”</p><p>“Why would he do that?” Lowry shook her head, “Father told me the Teutonic would participate in the Admiralty’s naval review to honor the Queen next month!”</p><p>“He probably told the company that the ship would sail faster without the deadweight.” Ame scoffed, “Speaking of deadweight, take a look at the next set.”</p><p>Lowry found a peculiar stash of documents like Ame said. The bewildered aristocrat thumbed through the sheets of paper and realized what it was.</p><p>“The ship’s manifests. The names of the passengers and crew members are listed here.” Lowry hummed. Her eyes scanned through the names and eventually found the slot for the Captain and First Mate, “Hey… wait a second!”</p><p>“That’s right.” Ame finally spoke grimly, “The captain for our ship on this journey was supposed to be a Mr. Jeffrey Dunleavy. His First Mate was supposed to be John Key Charleston. We’ve been tricked from the very beginning.” </p><p>“I had my suspicions about Captain Morrison at first.” Ina sheepishly added, “However I didn’t have any evidence to accuse him or Miss Chadwick of anything - until now. I would have seemed like a lunatic if I spoke up.”</p><p>“All of the other passengers were fooled too, Ina.” Ame reassured, “Don’t beat yourself up over it.”</p><p>Lowry bit her thumb and grumbled, “If only our Telegraph Room was functional, I’d have daddy put Scotland Yard on the case. We’ll have a manhunt for Morrison and Chadwick and make them squeal!”</p><p>“I seriously doubt that Scotland Yard would be able to help us right now, Lowry.” Ame answered with a frown. She then pointed to a small scrap of paper at the bottom of the dossier, “I found that in the wastebasket of the Telegraph Room. It’s from four hours ago. You can read Morse, right?”</p><p>“Of course.” Lowry clicked her tongue and took the strip. She then proceeded to read it out loud, “<em> Report from… HMS Majestic. Stop. Royal Navy flagship. Stop. Ocean liner attack… confirmed. Stop. Atlantic Ocean. Stop. Six hundred… confirmed dead. Stop. Hundreds missing. Stop. Survivors hysterical. Stop. Investigation and rescue… continuing. Stop. </em>”</p><p>Lowry set down the Morse code strip and lamented.</p><p>“What in the world is going on!?”</p><hr/><p>
  <b>Epilogue</b>
</p><p> </p><p>As the Watson-Lowry meeting continued in the banquet hall, Gawr Gura looked at her own reflection on the polished surface of the long table. Even though Ame intervened on her behalf, Gura still felt Lowry’s scathing questions digging into her heart.</p><p>
  <em> ‘What's a mere maid doing in that room?’ </em>
</p><p>
  <em> ‘What if she was one of ‘them’?’ </em>
</p><p>A sour frown lingered on her lips and she raised her eyes up to the fresco of Poseidon riding the waves. She fixed her gaze on the trident and whispered beneath her breath.</p><p>‘<em> Hey. Where do I belong, really? </em>’</p><p>While Gura was searching her heart for an answer, the Teutonic rocked wildly. Thrashing waters picked up the boat as if it were a mere toy and threatened to break it, yet the Teutonic sailed on through the salty spray. It was a frightening rhythm of the sea, but the girls in the banquet hall had already gotten used to it.</p><p>Why then did Gura feel so nervous?</p><p>Gura closed her eyes and tried to calm her beating heart. All she had to do was sit tight and she would be able to make it to Bordeaux. There, perhaps, she could leave it all behind and disappear once more.</p><p>It made her wonder just how many times she has run away from tough times like this. Somewhere along the way, the chambermaid realized that she managed to lose count.</p><p>Suddenly, the wild waltz of the Teutonic through the ocean was disrupted and the ocean liner was struck by something as hard as steel. The reinforced superstructure of the ocean liner was shaken to the core and moaned ominously from the blow. Then, the entire banquet hall shook violently - forcing Gura and the rest of the girls to hang onto the polished table for dear life.</p><p>Lowry’s glass of cognac slid off the table and smashed against the dark mahogany walls, followed by the dossier that she had been examining. The framed painting of Queen Victoria also fell off its perch and crashed onto the banquet hall floor.</p><p>“Holy…!” Gura cursed as her head spun from the shaking. The electrical lights flickered on and off too and the Teutonic seemed to take much longer to right itself in the waves than before.</p><p>After that, the sound of brass bells started ringing - first from the bow, then from midship and then the stern. Those bells rang with a desperate urgency that Gura had never heard before. It told her that the watchmen had seen <em> something </em> terrifying.</p><p>Something that spanned from one end of the Teutonic to another.</p><p>Gura’s eyes darted to the now cognac-stained strip of Morse code tape from Ame’s dossier. Then, she dared to look out the windows of the banquet hall toward the restless sea.</p><p>There beyond the glass, she saw the gathering storm clouds that had turned the late afternoon into midnight black. Lightning flashed like tendrils of light that snaked through the darkness over the dark waters. Those flashes then illuminated what the Gura believed the watchmen ringing the bells saw.</p><p>It was the silhouette of a long, serpentine creature leaping out of the water as it swam alongside the RMS Teutonic. Menacing red eyes shone through the darkness and traced ominous red lines in the creature’s wake. Then, stuck to the creature’s long carapace were traces of what looked like a dozen polearms and tridents, whittled down by decades-worth of decay.</p><p>Gura’s eyes saw those broken tridents and her face went pale with horror.</p><p>“N-no…” Terrified words escaped from Gura’s trembling lips, “It can’t be…!”</p><p>
  <b>To Be Continued</b>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Free boat ride for three! Now who should I take~?</p><p>Hehe, just kidding! Ame, Ina and Gura are in a pickle now. Even though they put their differences with the Lowry Expedition aside, that might not be enough for the battle that is lying ahead of them. Chadwick and the Captain aren't the only ones missing now though. The enmaigmatic black-haired woman who had to hide the Cover Corp. letters is also nowhere to be seen. Middle management is a tough place, huh? One simple (yet not so simple) mistake and instead of coming together seamlessly - the girls embark on a Phoenix Hunt instead.</p><p>Anyways, that aside, I've always been a fan of Ame's LA Noire playthrough. I was tempted to make it so that the Teutonic's boilers were made by InstaHeat, but I didn't want to make this an Arson case hehe. At least Ame got to tap the envelopes twice like Cole Phelps. Every detective worth their salt has to tap evidence twice. It's a tradition.</p><p>Gura is definitely a hard girl to track down, so she was surprised that whoever wrote that letter knew where to send it. West Virginia was a pretty good guess - but the exact place would have been Strawberry Depot Post Office in West Elizabeth. I also didn't get the chance to get Gura to say it (because food is scarce now with what happened in the Teutonic), but Gura likes unlimited shrimp.</p><p>To those who are wondering - yes I have been on a boat before. I freaking love boats. Boats are versatile - like glasses, you know.</p><p>And yes, in case you didn't notice, I probably played a bit too much Valheim hehe. Poseidon~! Look~ at~ me~ whoaoaoaoao!</p><p>The spoiled brats of the Lowry Expedition are - indeed - spoiled brats, but that doesn't mean they're not talented. Also, Lowry's superpower is that she's rich. There. I said it.</p><p>For now - how will this uneasy alliance of misfits deal with the serpentine creature. That beast already has a 600-person kill count. It's looking at 1,200 more.</p><p>Find out next time on AlterMyth!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Daughter of Atlantis</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>First chapter of May~! Hooray~! It took a while to bring this chapter to paper in the way I wanted it, but it was worth it hehe.</p><p>Without further ado, here is Chapter 8 of AlterMyth!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <b>Prologue</b>
</p><p> </p><p>When the RMS Teutonic came under attack, the entire ship shook violently. Bolted steel bended and moaned from the unnatural strike, causing the bottled up panic of the passengers boiled over into pandemonium.</p><p>In the midship section, where most of the twelve hundred passengers had been shepherded earlier, the unrest was quickly getting out of hand.  Those panicked souls clung onto whatever they could - from handrails in the halls, to any piece of furniture that was bolted to the floor, to their fellow passengers. Their fears were stoked further when the electrical lights throughout the vessel flickered on and off.</p><p>Mass hysteria started to take root. A cacophony of screams, shouts and cries in a myriad of languages filled the midship section and spread like wildfire. The few remaining service crew and the six bodyguards of the Lowry expedition had six rifles and nine pistols between them, but they knew that their meager arsenal would be nothing compared to a maddened crowd.</p><p>Suddenly, the doors of the midship’s banquet hall burst open. Amelia Watson marched out into the great hall, followed by the shaken Ina, Gura and Ophelia. The detective led the pack, wearing a poker face as she made her way to the balcony. From there, she saw all four floors of the midship’s great hall - and the terrified crowds of people that packed each one.</p><p>A frown formed on Ame’s lips and she drew out her Webley revolver. She pointed it up to the wooden ceiling and pulled the trigger. Her pistol shot rang throughout the great hall and silenced the crowd. All eyes in the hall then turned to Amelia Watson and her smoking gun.</p><p>Now that she had their attention, Ame kept her gun raised up high and addressed the crowd at the top of her lungs. The Teutonic was under attack by a horrible beast, she told them. However, she showed everyone her gun and vowed that the attacker would be defeated.</p><p>Whispers started spreading throughout the midship section. The guards and staff parroted Ame’s words, but pockets of doubt remained. Moments later, the Teutonic was rocked again by another strike on the hull - this time from the starboard side.</p><p>Ame, however, stood strong and repeated her promise. The crowd held their breaths and quieted down. Even though the uneasy tension remained, they quietly accepted the detective’s offer.</p><p>After all, what other choice did they have?</p><p>This was Ame’s cue to call for volunteers.</p><p>All six Lowry Expedition guards came forward with their Lee Enfield rifles. Nine of the remnants of the Teutonic’s staff also volunteered, showing their constellation of handguns of all shapes and sizes. It was a true rag-tag militia.</p><p>Ophelia Lowry herself joined the ranks and brandished her own rifle - an American Krag-Jorgensen/M1892 Springfield rifle. The aristocrat’s daughter furrowed her brow and hissed at the detective.</p><p>“I hope you know what you’re doing, Watson. I’m going to haunt you if we die here.”</p><p>Ame scoffed at the remark and countered, “If you can shoot that thing, then we’ll be fine.”</p><p>“Count me in too, Ame.” Ina, unarmed as she was, volunteered next, “I can use the spotlight to track the beast.”</p><p>“Thanks Ina.” Ame finally managed a small smile, “You’ll be our eyes. We’ll be counting on you.”</p><p>Gura watched the Teutonic militia get organized from the sidelines at first. The chambermaid lowered her head and then stole a glance of the banquet hall behind her. There, the omnipresent fresco of Poseidon returned her gaze. It was as if the Olympian god stared straight into her very soul, wordlessly warning her.</p><p>Her hand was tempted to reach for the fishbone-shaped pendant that she wore, but Poseidon’s gaze made her stop halfway. Prodded by that glare, Gura reached into her maid uniform’s pockets instead. She drew out her Single Action Army revolver and approached the detective.</p><p>“I’ll fight too, Ame.” Gura volunteered gamely, “Lead the way.”</p><p>A small smile formed on Ame’s lips. She then spoke warmly, “Thank you, Gura. Let’s go.”</p><p>Gura’s smile in response, however, was half-hearted.</p><hr/><p>
  <b>AlterMyth</b>
</p><p>
  <em> Daughter of Atlantis</em>
</p><hr/><p>
  <b>Twenty-Third Scene - Wanted Dead Or Alive</b>
</p><p> </p><p>For as long as Gura could remember, she was a girl on the run. She lived as a drifter who moved from town to town and worked odd jobs to make ends meet. In that time, she was able to pick peaches in Georgia, buy a hat and traveling coat in Tennessee, get a revolver in Kentucky and then learn to ride a horse in West Virginia.</p><p>During that time, she acquired a thick country girl accent and learned to work and live off the land. Aside from those memories, however, those past few decades were a blur in her mind. She met all sorts of people and saw all sorts of places, but her friendships were shallow and fleeting. She had lost count of the number of times she had snuck aboard the midnight trains without telling a soul. </p><p>Crossing state lines became a routine for her. After all, her many odd jobs often pitted her against rough characters and - sometimes - put her on the wrong side of the law. If you were to ask her, she would probably have said that she was hailed as a hero in two counties and wanted for disturbing the peace in three others. The exact number of counties - and the crimes she was supposedly wanted for - would change, however, every time you asked.</p><p>Anyone who knew her for long enough would be able to tell that she was running away from <em> something </em> or <em> someone. </em> She was always either working, traveling, sleeping or drinking in the pubs and saloons of whatever town she was in that evening. Her tolerance for alcohol was absolutely inhuman, so no one ever stayed sober enough to dive deeper into her story.</p><p>Even if there was someone with an iron liver and a brave soul, Gura would just refuse to answer and wear an apologetic smile. As such, Gura kept her secrets to herself - never letting herself get attached to anyone or anything.</p><p>Gura lived her life like this for about thirty years. Stagnation eventually set in. She spent more time drunk than sober. Her revolver started gathering dust. Even her sweetcorn had trouble growing. Before long, the drifter started wondering what she was doing with her life.</p><p>By some stroke of luck, in an increasingly rare moment of clarity, Gura found an opening in the White Star Line company as a chambermaid. It was a contract for two voyages on ocean liners - one from New York to Liverpool, and one from Portsmouth to Bordeaux. </p><p>She wasn’t a stranger to odd jobs and to unusual contracts, but traveling through the Atlantic Ocean worried her. There was something about that ocean that seemed to frighten her. Any body of water wider than the Shenandoah River made her feel uneasy and she refused to tell anyone why.</p><p>However, the pay on the advertisement was generous enough to nudge her in the right direction. More than that, she would be able to leave her gunslinger past behind and start anew in Europe. Once again. Once more. So, she applied for the job and left West Virginia for New York as soon as she was hired.</p><p>Everything was going according to plan for her for a while. She was one of the best chambermaids on the RMS Olympic, the Teutonic’s sister ship, and she earned a pretty penny. Her purse was filled with more threepence coins than she could count. And yet, that looming emptiness remained in her heart.</p><p>Then, on one fateful afternoon, her plans were disrupted on the bar car of a Portsmouth-bound train. She drank a little too much and, for once, reached the limit of her liver. Instead of drowning her sorrows, her sorrows were threatening to drown her.</p><p>That was when her eyes met with those of Amelia Watson. At that moment she knew that her life would be changed forever.</p><p>In the span of two days, Ame burst through the walls that Gura had built around herself like a daisy chain of dynamites. Every meeting that she had with the detective was an explosion of warmth and kindness that melted Gura’s stone-cold heart. Ame even introduced her to the librarian Ina who warmed up to her quickly after their misunderstandings had been cleared.</p><p>The foolhardy detective and the usually level-headed librarian (when she wasn’t secretly fawning over Ame) reminded Gura of something that she thought she had forgotten after all those years. They weren’t like those fleeting, pedestrian relationships with travelers or colleagues that came and went. They weren’t mere ships passing in a stormy night.</p><p>Ame was special to her.</p><p>Ina was special to her.</p><p>They were like sunshine that came to her after decades of darkness.</p><p>Thus, when the RMS Teutonic came under attack on that stormy evening, she swore to protect her sunshine. Her deep-seated history and heritage continued to haunt her and held her back to a degree.</p><p>And yet, after thirty years on land, Gura decided that she was starting to get tired of hiding from the sea.</p><p>With revolver in hand, her ancient hesitation was finally starting to melt away once and for all.</p><hr/><p>
  <b>Twenty-Fourth Scene - Battle on the High Seas</b>
</p><p> </p><p>Back in the present, Gura and the rest of the militia took whatever protective equipment they could find in the Teutonic’s depleted storerooms. They donned hooded oilskin jackets, floating cork vests and tall rubber rain boots to shield themselves from the elements. Then, Gura took out her Single Action Army revolver and hoped to give its barrel a quick, albeit long overdue scrub.</p><p>When she did so, however, she noticed that her revolver had already been thoroughly cleaned. The last time she cleaned her gun, she was still running from outlaws in West Virginia. She then stole a glance at Ame who gave her a knowing wink in reply.</p><p>That wink made Gura scoff, but it put her at ease.</p><p>It reminded her of what she was fighting for.</p><p>Once the militia gathered what it could, Ame and Ina explained their strategy. Ina would use the spotlight to spot and track the creature. Then, Ame would lead the gunners in the fusillade to stop it from ramming the Teutonic again. Mad minutes of gunfire.</p><p>As they were speaking, the ship got rammed by the creature a third time - reminding them of their urgent situation. Once again, Gura reached for her fishbone-shaped pendant pensively - but stopped herself halfway.</p><p>Her resolve had yet to fully thaw and the glare of Poseidon forced her to stay her hand. Thirty years of living on land did not dull her fear of Atlantean laws and society - as well as her disdain for them both.</p><p>“Is something wrong, Gura?” Ina asked her when she passed by, “You’re sweating.”</p><p>Gura shook her head and wore a restrained smile.</p><p>“I’m fine, Ina.” Gura reassured half-heartedly, “We’ll be counting on you up there!”</p><p>Ina glanced at Gura for a moment but eventually decided to take the chambermaid at her word. The librarian then excused herself and climbed up to the crow’s nest. Ame, on the other hand, led the militia onto the deck of the Teutonic.</p><p>Gura heaved a sigh and followed Ame and the others.</p><p>Marching together with the militia gave Gura some hope. Her allies were confident - and the lively, albeit harsh banter between Ame and Ophelia kept everyone’s spirits up somewhat. For a moment, Gura even felt that they may have that battle in the bag.</p><p>However, as soon as Ame opened the door to the deck, Gura’s fleeting delusions were eviscerated by the harsh reality before her. Howling winds, frigid near-freezing rain and high, billowing waves rocked the boat to a deathly rhythm. It was as if Death itself was cradling them to their final slumber.</p><p>Flashes of lightning reflected in Gura’s blue eyes when she stepped onto the deck. The wind whipped off her oilskin hood and rain drenched her head of white hair. Her Single Action Army revolver was slick with rain in her clammy hands and the memories that she had been fighting so hard to suppress threatened to rise to the surface of the eye of her mind.</p><p>The bloodstained memories of her first encounter with this very same sea serpent from thirty years ago.</p><p>A loud click rang from the crow’s nest above the deck and Ina’s high-intensity spotlight turned on. That powerful ray of light pierced through the darkness of the stormy skies and then swept through the Teutonic’s deck.</p><p>Moments later, that spotlight focused on the creature that was attacking their vessel. The creature’s ancient, armored scales glistened with seawater under the watchful gaze of the spotlight.</p><p>Gura regarded those scales and the broken remnants of polearms and tridents that stubbornly clung onto the serpent for thirty years and counting. Rainwater streaked down from Gura’s oilskin hood and slid down her cheeks as she stood there in a trance.</p><p>Hatred, anger, sadness and fear mixed together in the chambermaid’s heart. That concoction of emotions stewed there and threatened to boil over.</p><p>Then, she felt a hand tap her on the shoulder. Gura whirled around panicked, but she saw Ame wearing her confident, albeit fragile smile.</p><p>“You don’t have to force yourself to fight, Gura.” Ame politely offered her one last chance to retreat.</p><p>Gura promptly shook her head and wiped the drops of rain from her cheeks. Before she could say anything, however, the creature started slithering quickly towards the Teutonic. The sea serpent’s menacing red eyes met with Gura’s, tainted with primal hunger. Then, it swam towards the Teutonic with breakneck speed.</p><p>Ame broke away from Gura and drew her revolver. She then cried out.</p><p>“It’s coming! OPEN FIRE!”</p><p>The detective fired first and struck the serpent’s armored head, barely missing the approaching creature’s eyes. Further down the deck, Gura heard the safeties of rifles switched off with metallic clicks and the cocking of revolver hammers. All the while, Ina kept the spotlight firmly on the attacking beast.</p><p>Seven rifles and nine pistols went off intermittently, guided by the lone spotlight. Their fusillade sent bullets of various calibers flying towards the serpent, but those shots hardly did any damage. Gura fired her recently-cleaned Single Action Army too to join the fusillade, but she was met with the same fate. Her shot - and the shots of her allies - were deflected by the powerful scales with near impunity and her heart sank.</p><p>The serpent’s scales had grown harder over those past thirty years, Gura realized. Now, they were strong enough to deflect the most modern rifle rounds. The few shots that managed to pierce the scales or slip between them left only shallow wounds at best.</p><p>Gura then shuddered when she turned to Ame. The confident sharpness in Ame’s eyes had waned. She could tell that the detective made the same realization as her. The both of them had made a grave miscalculation - and they knew that they were about to pay for it dearly.</p><p>Ina, Ophelia and the other members of the militia probably realized that too. Now, all they could do was brace for impact.</p><p>The ancient, aged serpent rammed the portside hull with unnatural strength. Its blow sent shockwaves throughout the entire ship. Gura and the other defenders held onto the rails of the deck and clung on for dear life. All the while, the electric lights of the Teutonic - including their vaunted spotlight - flickered wildly and dimmed.</p><p>In the midst of that chaos, Gura’s senses sharpened. Heavy rain and sea spray bombarded her and allies with water and frost, making it hard for them to hold on to the rails and to their weapons. Then, for a brief moment, Gura’s shaken blue eyes met with the serpent’s malicious red.</p><p>This serpent recognized her. Gura’s accent had changed dramatically and her hair had grown longer and whiter, but the serpent recognized her. Its glare sent chills up the chambermaid’s spine.</p><p>With that, the serpent submerged its head and then dove down to the dark depths beneath the Teutonic. The creature’s immensely long body followed it into the abyss, giving Gura a clear view of the hardened scales on its back - and the myriad of broken tridents and polearms that had pierced it decades ago.</p><p>The serpent was taunting her - branding her as a powerless coward.</p><p>Then, a towering pillar of water shot up from the ocean in the serpent’s wake. It rose almost as high as the Teutonic’s twin funnels and shrouded the entire portside deck with shadows.</p><p>“Everyone!” Ame screamed, “Hold o-!!!”</p><p>However, the detective couldn't finish her sentence before the pillar of water fell upon the deck. Frigid, salty water flushed through the deck for a few seconds that felt like an eternity. All around Gura, she saw the militia members holding their breaths while holding on to the besieged boat.</p><p>The scene reminded her of that fateful night thirty years ago when she fought that serpent off the coast of Florida. It was a night when twenty young Atlantean cadets were dispatched to slay a serpent that had gone mad, swayed by some unknown force. The mission failed - of course - and all but one of the cadets were killed in the hopeless battle.</p><p>A royal cadet of Atlantis named Gawr Gura was the lone survivor - forever to be branded as a coward, a traitor and a deserter.</p><p>On the flooded deck of the Teutonic, she saw the faces of those cadets who fought alongside her and bought her time to escape. All nineteen of them were dear friends to her. All nineteen of their tridents and polearms pierced the beast - but it wasn’t enough.</p><p>Thirty years later, off the Atlantic coast of France, the beast still lived. For all its bluster and rigid laws and codes of honor, Atlantis did nothing. They let this beast continue to run amok. The source of its madness was never investigated either. Spurred by her bitter memories and submerged under the deluge caused by her ancient enemy, Gura made a decision.</p><p>Poseidon can eat a fishstick.</p><hr/><p>
  <b>Twenty-fifth Scene - Not My First Rodeo</b>
</p><p> </p><p>The deluge drained from the deck of the Teutonic before long, but the weary militia was left in a daze. They had managed to hold onto the rails of the deck and keep their weapons, but their resolve was woefully dampened. In their minds, their supposedly mighty ocean liner had become a mere toy at the mercy of nature and the serpent that assaulted them. The ceaseless rain whittled away at their hope and sanity and the harsh winds made them shiver to the core.</p><p>Cracks had also started to form on the deck, owing to the serpent’s unnaturally precise tackles and the severely inclement weather. The RMS Teutonic was hanging on a thread - and so was Amelia Watson.</p><p>All of her bravado in the midship great hall had gone with the deluge and the wind and she knelt down onto the rain-swept deck. A shadow shrouded her unfocused sky blue eyes. She snapped open her revolver, ejecting all six of her spent rounds. However, her hand trembled when she tried to reload the gun.</p><p>One of those new bullets slipped from her fingers and rolled onto the damp deck of the Teutonic. The dropped bullet rolled away from Ame but stopped when it hit rain boots that were pointed towards her.</p><p>The oilskin-clad Gura picked up the bullet and then offered it to Ame. She looked up to Gura and saw an earnest smile on the chambermaid’s face.</p><p>“... Gura?” Ame’s defeated voice betrayed her curiosity and disbelief.</p><p>It was as if the deluge had washed away a massive weight off of Gura’s shoulders. The chambermaid, however, offered the bullet to Ame again and spoke.</p><p>“Hey, Ame. I’m about to do something crazy, but I want you to trust me. Okay?”</p><p>“Something crazy…?” Ame shook her head in confusion, “What are you talking about!?”</p><p>“I’ve seen how this sea serpent fights. It’s about to do a killing blow. It’ll leap out on the starboard side, backflip onto the cracked deck of this ship and tear it in half. That’s probably how it did the other ocean liner in.” Gura explained with odd calmness, “But I’m gonna stop it this time.”</p><p>Ame looked straight into Gura’s eyes, absolutely awestruck.</p><p>“How the hell do you plan to do that!?” Ame demanded, desperation spilling out into her voice, “We’re throwing everything we’ve got at it already!”</p><p>“Not everything.” Gura gave Ame a toothy grin and laid the loose bullet gently onto the detective’s hand, “Not yet.”</p><p>She then stood up, stripped off her long oilskin jacket and lifted up the rear of her maid dress. Gura let the odd, omnipresent bulge on her back come loose too - the same odd bulge that Ame noticed in the train to Portsmouth.</p><p>A long, curved blue shark’s tail emerged from behind Gura’s back for Ame to see. It was bent somewhat out of shape, but it eventually righted itself and then swayed flexibly.</p><p>“So… you were an Atlantean after all.” Ame gasped. She held the bullet that Gura returned to her tightly. The fire of the detective’s resolve started growing stronger again, “A shark-girl… I thought they were myths!”</p><p>Gura nodded and then turned to the starboard side of the Teutonic’s deck. </p><p>“Yeah. It’s a long story, but I’ve fought this fella before. I failed once. I ain’t gonna fail again… but I’ll need your help.” Gura then pointed to her own back and explained, “The serpent’s armor on the back is stronger now than what I remember, but it’s belly should still be weak enough to shoot. I’m gonna make ‘im show his belly to the ship. When it does, I need you to shower the varmint with lead!”</p><p>“You didn’t answer my question, Gura!” Ame then lashed, “How are you planning to do any of that!?”</p><p>Gura shook her head and then a bittersweet smile then formed on her lips.</p><p>“You’d stop me if I told you what I was gonna do, Ame. Please trust me and get everyone ready to fire. Let me pay you back for making me feel alive again.”</p><p>With that, Gura holstered her Single Action Army revolver and let her oilskin jacket fly off into the howling winds. She then knelt down on the ground and arched her back like a sprinter waiting for the signal shot. All the while, her blue tail swayed eagerly behind her.</p><p>“Gura, wait!” Ame tried to stop the shark-girl, but her words were lost in the wind.</p><p>The waters on the starboard side of the Teutonic rumbled just like Gura anticipated. That was the shark-girl’s cue to run as fast as her feet would take her. She sprinted through the rain-swept deck, gathering more and more momentum with each step that she took. All the while, her eyes watched as the serpent’s armored head emerged from the waters.</p><p>As if it were second nature, Gura finally reached for her fishbone-shaped pendant and ripped it off the chain. A flash of powder blue light then coalesced around the pendant and it transformed into a luminous aquamarine trident. Gura caught the trident midair and she leapt onto the starboard rails of the deck.</p><p>The shark-girl bent her knees and then launched herself and her trident at the rising serpent with every ounce of strength she could muster. She caught the serpent’s head on the way up and drove her trident into it. Its three prongs pierced through the thick scales and dug firmly into the carapace beneath.</p><p>That strike made the serpent roar into the dark heavens and it started thrashing about. The serpent’s attack was interrupted and it moved away from the Teutonic, twisting and writhing. It desperately tried to shake off the shark-girl and dislodge her trident from its head. Gura, however, firmly held on and slowly forced her trident even deeper into the serpent’s head - then into its skull.</p><p>“This ain’t my first rodeo, buddy!” Gura growled, “But this is gonna be your last!”</p><p>When the creature thrashed about, it unwittingly turned its armored back away from the Teutonic and exposed the more tender scales of its belly. Ame realized what Gura was trying to do, so she finished loading her gun and snapped it back together.</p><p>She pointed her gun at the creature’s long belly and pulled the trigger. Her pistol shot flew true through the rain and struck the serpent, drawing blood. Ame then gripped her gun firmly and cried out with renewed fervor.</p><p>“Everyone! Starboard side, now! Shoot the belly of the beast!”</p><p>At Ame’s command, the shaken militia cautiously took their positions on the starboard side of the deck. Ina shifted her spotlight to the starboard side too and illuminated the creature’s bloodied belly. With their target painted with light, the militia started to shoot at the serpent’s exposed belly. To their surprise, their shots went through too. Rifle and pistol shots alike tore through the tender scales and drew blood.</p><p>The once fearsome, invulnerable beast was finally bleeding before their eyes! They had a chance to win!</p><p>“Keep shooting!” Ame cried out, emptying her cylinder into the serpent’s belly, “Give it hell!”</p><p>With that, the fusillade intensified and shots flew as fast as the defenders could pull their triggers. Every bullet that struck the serpent’s belly and dug into its innards made it grow more and more unhinged. </p><p>Then, in a rare moment of clarity, the serpent coiled up the entire length of its body underwater and then whipped its head up with titanic force.</p><p>That immense force overpowered the shark-girl that had been clinging onto her trident despite her best efforts. Gura’s grip failed and she was launched high up into the dark, stormy heavens. Her trident, on the other hand, remained stuck to the serpent’s head - joining the many weapons of her brothers and sisters in arms.</p><hr/><p>
  <b>Twenty-Sixth Scene - A Proper Farewell</b>
</p><p> </p><p>“Gura!” Ame shouted in horror, even though her words would not possibly reach.</p><p>From the starboard deck, the detective watched the serpent coil up and train its wild red eyes upon the flying Atlantean. She saw it open its jaw slightly and bare its sharp teeth. It was trembling with anticipation for a meal that it seemed to be incredibly eager to take.</p><p>Ame glared back at the serpent’s greedy eyes and dared to fire a shot from her pistol. However, her shot failed to reach the eye and was blown away by the wind. The detective gritted her teeth and lowered her revolver.</p><p>She couldn’t possibly hit the such a small target with her pistol from this distance, or in this weather.</p><p>So, Ame turned her eyes to her allies on the starboard deck and shouted.</p><p>“Rifles! Aim for the eyes!” Ame roared like a lion challenging the howling winds, “Don’t let that thing eat Gura alive!”</p><p>As soon as she cried out her urgent command, she saw a peculiar Krag-Jorgensen/M1892 Springfield rifle flying her way through the rain. Ame caught it midair and then turned to the sender.</p><p>“Lowry…” The detective gasped.</p><p>“One shot left, Watson!” The aristocrat’s daughter answered Ame’s call with a stern look on her face. She then pulled out a pristine Mauser C96 pistol to replace her rifle and barked back, “Make it count!”</p><p>Ame snorted, holstered her Webley revolver and promptly wielded the Krag rifle. She knelt down, steadied her aim on the starboard rails of the Teutonic and watched the serpent and the flying Gura from behind the iron sights. From there, she saw the flurry of gunfire streaking through the night sky and the shark-girl who was starting to fall into the serpent’s fang-lined maw.</p><p>The detective steadied her breath and time seemed to slow down for her - almost as if on command. Even in that distance, her eyes met with Gura’s. The shark-girl mouthed a message to the detective and brought a small smile to Ame’s lips.</p><p>Spurred by Gura’s secret message, Ame raised her aim a tad bit higher and pulled the trigger.</p><p>Her rifle shot flew true through the stormy skies and streaked through the torrential rain. The shot struck the serpent in the eye and the beast’s jaw flew wide open as it howled with pain.</p><p>The falling Gura then flicked her shark’s tail mid-air and began diving head-first, picking up speed as she cut through the air. She drew her Single Action Army revolver and unloaded her cylinder into the serpent’s mouth. With every shot that she landed, the serpent’s mouth opened wider and wider until Gura had a clear view of the inside of its throat.</p><p>Gura wore a toothy grin and holstered her revolver once again. Then, she extended her hand forward and shouted.</p><p>“Come back to me!”</p><p>When Gura said this, her trident stuck to the serpent’s head dissolved with a flash of powder blue light. Those wisps of light then coalesced before Gura and retook the shape of her aquamarine trident. She grabbed the trident midair and pointed its prongs at the serpent’s throat.</p><p>Tears started forming at the sides of her eyes and trailed behind her as she and her aquamarine trident fell through the night sky like a magnificent blue comet. All the while, she roared ferociously and imagined her nineteen brothers and sisters in arms charging the serpent together with her.</p><p>“All together now!” Gura cried tearfully, “One... last... time!”</p><p>Moved by the memories that she finally embraced once more, Gura slipped through the serpent’s sharp jaws and then thrust her trident clean through its throat. The menacing red eyes of the serpent dimmed to nothing and its scaly body fell lifelessly onto the surface of the ocean.</p><p>So, after thirty long years, the first and last mission of Gawr Gura and her cadre of Atlantean cadets was finally complete.</p><hr/><p>
  <b>Twenty-Seventh Scene - And The Moon Turned To Gold</b>
</p><p> </p><p>The sudden summer storm eventually came to pass and moonlight finally peeked through the waning storm clouds. The torrential rain also mellowed down into a mild drizzle as the heartless sea was gradually made calm again.</p><p>This was the scene that greeted Gura when she emerged from the dark depths with her aquamarine trident in tow. The shark-girl surfaced a ways off from the carcass of the ancient sea serpent and struggled for a moment to stay afloat. After all, she hadn’t been in water this deep for thirty years. Thankfully, her flexible shark’s tail made up for the clumsy movements of her arms and legs.</p><p>Once she had found her balance, she dismissed her trident with a whisper and returned it to its fishbone form. She then strung it back into a necklace  and wore it around her neck. When she did, the foghorns of the RMS Teutonic sounded and the powerful spotlight manned by Ina turned her way.</p><p>Gura waved towards Ina’s spotlight and proceeded to swim after the slow-moving Teutonic. Before long, a bright, orange lifebuoy flew towards and landed nearby with a small splash. The exhausted shark-girl grabbed onto the lifebuoy and wore the inflatable ring around her chest.</p><p>With that, Gura rested her tail and let herself get hoisted slowly upward onto the Teutonic’s deck. From the rising lifebuoy, Gura had a clear view of the moonlit ocean and the corpse of the sea serpent floating lifelessly therein. Her eyes were drawn to the nineteen polearms and tridents that remained on the back of the serpent.</p><p>For a moment, Gura considered leaping off of the lifebuoy to retrieve those weapons. However, before she could say anything, she was finally brought back on board the Teutonic. </p><p>The six guards of the Lowry Expedition who had hoisted her up cheered when they rescued Gura. They remembered her as the girl who drank like a fish on the train to Portsmouth, after all. None of them thought that Gura would actually be a sort of fish - let alone a mythical being in her own right. That revelation only endeared her to the guards, however, and they hailed her as their hero - the great serpent-slayer!</p><p>In the midst of the fanfare, however, another pair of footsteps approached the shark-girl. Gura turned her head and saw Amelia Watson marching towards her. The detective had her back to the moon, so shadows shrouded her eyes and masked her complex expression.</p><p>Gura opened her mouth to greet Ame and boast about their victory, but the detective suddenly picked up speed. Then, Ame broke out into a sprint and caught Gura in a tight embrace.</p><p>“A-Ame…!?”</p><p>“You dummy!” Ame scolded harshly with tears streaking down her cheeks. She buried her face on Gura’s shoulders and repeated herself over and over, “You dummy! You dummy! You dummy!”</p><p>Gura chuckled for a moment, but an earnest smile formed on her lips. She returned Ame’s embrace and whispered back.</p><p>“I’m sorry for worrying you, Ame. I won’t worry you like that again.” Gura promised tenderly and patted Ame’s back, “There, there now. There, there.”</p><p>Under the pale moonlight, Ame and Gura hugged each other tight. They savored each other’s warmth and listened to each other’s beating hearts. With Ame in her arms, Gura’s mind wandered to the nineteen polearms and tridents that remained on the serpent’s back.</p><p>Gura sensed their presence there on the deck of the RMS Teutonic. Her brothers and sisters in arms stood there with glad smiles on their faces. When the moonlight grew stronger, her old friends disappeared into the night one last time.</p><p>After a few more minutes, when Ame had finally calmed down, Gura took Ame’s hands and looked straight into her eyes.</p><p>“I’ve made up my mind, Ame.” Gura then gave her a toothy grin and spoke, “I want to join your expedition!”</p><p>Ame held Gura’s hands in hers and nodded without a shadow of doubt in her heart.</p><p>“We’d be happy to have you, Gura. Welcome to the team.”</p><hr/><p>
  <b>Epilogue</b>
</p><p> </p><p>Far in the distance from the crippled Teutonic, the stolen life rafts of the vessel were sailing towards the French coast. Those rafts were manned by the tuxedo-clad sailors who served directly under First Mate Chadwick. Meanwhile, the First Mate herself stood at the rear of the foremost life raft and watched the Teutonic through a spyglass.</p><p>“They actually fought it off!?” Chadwick grumbled and retracted the spyglass, “Did Atlantis intervene this time?”</p><p>“Impossible, Chadwick. Atlantis would not intervene in matters that do not concern them.” A strong, deep and raspy voice spoke from behind her, “They are a fallen empire in every sense of the word. They would not raise a single trident to save a mere twelve hundred souls.”</p><p>Chadwick turned around and found the old, regal Captain James Morrison leisurely puffing on a cigar</p><p> “Oh, but there was a trident there in that battle.” Chadwick insisted, “I’d recognize that bright aquamarine hue anywhere.”</p><p>“A rogue, then.” Captain Morrison assessed. He blew a plume of smoke into the night sky and reassured the First Mate, “The status quo remains, Chadwick. The Teutonic surviving the attack is but a minor setback. Our plans remain unhindered.”</p><p>“But sir…!” Chadwick tried to argue again.</p><p>“Don’t let a small hiccup make you lose track of the bigger picture, Chadwick. That is how the short-lived humans think.” Captain Morrison calmly interrupted her, “Focus on what needs to be done here and now. Otherwise, everything will truly be lost.”</p><p>Morrison then took off his hat and let it fly into the wind. Under the pale moonlight, his white hair, his brown eyes and wrinkled skin melted away into dust. Stripped of his skin and hair, only a skeleton remained of Morrison’s body. The clothes that it wore, however, remained in place. The smoke from the cigar in his mouth wafted up from his skull’s nostrils and eye sockets before ominous red flames replaced his eyes.</p><p>The animated skeleton then turned to Chadwick and somehow continued to speak, albeit with a deeper and more menacing voice.</p><p>“When we get to town, contact Calliope Mori. Inform her about the RMS Teutonic. Tell her that there has been a change in plans. She will understand what that means.” The skeleton of Morrison gave his orders, “Meanwhile, I shall pay the Ancient Ones a visit. The time of reckoning is close at hand.”</p><p>Chadwick regarded the skeletonized Morrison, but remained completely unfazed. She then put a hand on her hip, looked up to the moon and heaved a sigh.</p><p>“Understood, Death-sensei.”</p><p>
  <b>To Be Continued</b>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>So, fishsticks. You like fishsticks? When's the last time you had a fishstick? Fish. Sticks. Fishsticks.</p><p>Poseidon eats fishsticks, and so should you.</p><p>You know how in movies and anime, characters seem to talk over reaaaaally long distances? I was tempted to do that a few times, but I just thought it was ridiculous lol. That's why Ame had to fire a warning shot to get everyone's attention - and why she needed the other staff to relay her message throughout the ship. Otherwise, it could have been a bad game of telephone.</p><p>I used to write a lot of Girls' Frontline fanfics and M1903 Springfield was my oshi. That, and I'm working on something else in the same timeframe as AlterMyth - which is why I'm fascinated with the Krag rifle/M1892. Don't mind me - just a history nut gushing over pretty periodic rifles. Also, you know Ophelia Lowry is a rich British girl when she has an American military rifle AND a German-made Mauser pistol for her personal use. Imported is fashionable, after all lol.</p><p>Gura's history on land is based on her RDR2 playthrough. Sometimes, she does some noble things. Sometimes, she gets wicked bounties on her head lol. Aside from that, Gura served on the RMS Olympic before serving on the RMS Teutonic - and yes, the Olympic was the ocean liner that was previously attacked by the Sea Serpent. Target practice, you know.</p><p>Speaking of the Sea Serpent, yes. Valheim. I know XD. It was a creature spurred by some strange unknown force. What that force is will remain a mystery for a little while longer, but I'm sure you folks already have guesses.</p><p>Gura definitely wasn't sweating because somebody had a better business card than her. Now let's see Paul Allen's backstory.</p><p>In any case, I hope you folks enjoyed the fic so far! I've updated my profile picture and my contact info in my profile too if you want to check that out~ Aside from that, I'll see you folks next time on the next chapter!</p><p>Cheers!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Les Filles Que J’adore</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hello folks~! I promised this Chapter for May 14, but I managed to get 'er done a little early! Hooray~!</p><p>A little shorter than usual, but I liked writing this quite a bit! Cheers, folks! Here's AlterMyth Chapter 9!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <b>Prologue</b>
</p><p> </p><p>Three long hours of sailing through the night passed before the RMS Teutonic finally encountered another vessel on the high seas - a small <em> aviso </em> gunboat of the French navy. The <em> aviso </em> noticed the spotlight of the Teutonic cutting through the midnight darkness and answered with its own spotlight.</p><p>Ina, who had been manning the spotlight for most of that time, heaved a sigh of relief and proceeded to blink her lights methodically. She switched it on and off intermittently and sent a message in Morse Code.</p><p>S. O. S.</p><p>With that message of light, the <em> aviso </em> promptly came to the aid of the Teutonic. It sailed alongside the crippled ocean liner and laid down gangplanks between them. The <em> aviso </em> captain and a handful of his English-speaking crew then crossed the plank to assess the situation, distribute emergency supplies and meet the people in charge.</p><p>Ophelia Lowry and Amelia Watson.</p><p>Lowry and Watson accompanied the crew of the <em> aviso </em> and joined their inspection of the vessel. It didn’t take long for the <em> aviso </em> captain to make his assessment, however.</p><p>It was a miracle that the RMS Teutonic survived.</p><p>The Teutonic was in terrible shape by all accounts, after all. Her boiler engines were struggling to maintain the slow ahead. Her lights and electrical systems were compromised and failed from time to time. Her hull bore visible, structural damage that threatened to flood the ship if she struck as much as a rock. Her defenders had no cannons or machine guns to speak of. Her bridge was helmed by a pair of talented, albeit inexperienced amateurs too.</p><p>And yet, the Teutonic will live to see the sunrise. Neither the sea nor the serpent claimed a soul either.</p><p>Naturally, the French captain was curious to know how.</p><p>When the Frenchman broached the topic, Lowry was inclined to tell all. Despite her aristocratic pride, she knew all too well that she was alive because of the valiant efforts of the brave Amelia, the steadfast light of Ina’nis and the incredible strength of Gura. Just as she was about to reveal this, however, Watson suddenly interrupted her.</p><p>In the presence of the French captain and his crew, the detective began spinning a wild, tall tale. According to her, it was Ophelia who organized the desperate defense, slew the serpent and saved the RMS Teutonic. Watson then proceeded to shower her with praise.</p><p>The aristocrat was dumbstruck by the detective’s blatant, albeit passionate and believable lies, so she stayed quiet and played along with the act. It was only when the <em> aviso </em> captain and his crew disembarked the Teutonic that Lowry confronted her rival.</p><p>Lowry pulled Ame aside and brought her to the bow of the Teutonic. There, she lashed at the detective.</p><p>“What in the world are you thinking, Watson!? I know you and that shark-girl saved our hides out there. Why go so far to tell that tall tale to the French!?</p><p>Watson leisurely leaned against the rails of the Teutonic’s deck and casually explained herself.</p><p>“Don’t you want that, Lowry? Your name will make headline news all over the world!”</p><p>“For something that you did with the Oriental and the Atlantean!” Lowry countered.</p><p>“I know that, Lowry. I know.” Watson admitted now. Her tone became serious, “But what really happened tonight has to stay between us and our teams. This whole ‘Atlantis’ and ‘dark influence’ business sounds like trouble. Plus Miss Chadwick and Captain Morrison are still out there doing who knows what. The less media attention we get, the better.”</p><p>Lowry grumbled for a moment, but she slammed her fist against the rails. </p><p>“You’re not just doing this to get ahead of me in the Phoenix expedition, are you?” Lowry tested, “You’re foregoing a lot of money you could earn for your war chest. This is a net loss for you.”</p><p>“Not exactly.” The detective shook her head, “When I first started this journey, my one goal was to defend Ina’s honor from the hostile school board. Now, I’m going to do what I can to protect Gura too.”</p><p>She then closed her eyes and felt the sea breeze blow through her hair.</p><p>“I’m going to make the both of them happy. If that means proving your father wrong by cataloguing the Phoenix, then so be it.” Watson admitted wholeheartedly, “That’s more important to me than money.”</p><p>“I’m going to pretend that you didn’t insult my father just now.” Lowry grumbled, “But you don’t have to worry about the Atlantean’s secret. My guards already like her more than they like me. My two friends don’t exactly hate her either.”</p><p>“Gura does have a way of getting people to like her.” Watson laughed in agreement.</p><p>“That said, I’m not a fan of one-sided deals.” Lowry interjected, “It’s bad business.”</p><p>She then took off the Krag-Jorgensen/M1892 Springfield rifle that she wore and handed it to the detective.</p><p>“You were a crack shot last night, Watson.” She admitted, “The shark-girl slew the serpent, yes, but she couldn’t have done it without you.”</p><p>The detective took the rifle and smirked.</p><p>“Flattery will get you nowhere with me, Lowry.”  Watson teased as she wore her new gun, “How are you going to explain losing this gun to your beloved dad?”</p><p>“Fighting the sea serpent was a terrifying ordeal, Watson.” Lowry shrugged casually in response, “I just happened to lose an old, worthless gun in the heat of battle. I can buy another one, or two or three.”</p><p>“Already in character, I see.” Watson scoffed.</p><p>“But of course!” The aristocrat boasted. She then put a hand on her hip and added, “Aside from that, I will also have daddy put Scotland Yard and their partners on the Continent on the case to find those cowards Chadwick and Morrison. Telegraph Dr. Watson and Sherlock Holmes to expect a summons from him soon too.”</p><p>A small smile then formed on Watson’s lips.</p><p>“You know, you’re not half-bad when you’re not trying to kill me, Lowry.”</p><p>“Our goals just happened to align, Watson.” Lowry avoided Watson’s gaze, “That’s all there is to it.”</p><p>“Is that so?” Watson let go of the rails and then started walking back towards the midship, “Well then, I’ll take my leave. See you around, Ophelia H. Lowry.”</p><p>“<em> Au revoir </em>, Amelia H. Watson.” Lowry answered with rare warmth, “And thank you.”</p><p>And so, as the sun rose over the RMS Teutonic on the French coast, the detective and the aristocrat went their separate ways once more.</p><hr/><p>
  <b>AlterMyth</b>
</p><p>
  <em> Les Filles Que J’adore </em>
</p><hr/><p>
  <b>Twenty-Eighth Scene - Excuse My French</b>
</p><p> </p><p>Under the bright morning sun, Ame and Ina stood together with their new companion Gura at the starboard side of the Teutonic’s deck. They had their luggage set at their feet and the gentle countryside breeze combed through their hair. From their spot on the deck, they watched as the Teutonic slowed down to a halt and then dropped anchor at the fabled <em> Port de Lune </em> of Bordeaux, France.</p><p>As soon as the gangplank was set, the girls saw a gaggle of French journalists falling upon themselves to get onboard the Teutonic. Even from afar, they heard those journalists searching for Ophelia Lowry.</p><p>Those journalists were scrambling to secure an interview with the supposed ‘Serpent-Slayer’. It was almost as if those journalists were coming to meet the second coming of Joan D’Arc! Perhaps a newly canonized saint, or an angel, even! They were so preoccupied that none of them bothered to acknowledge the presence of the Watson Expedition and their new hire Gawr Gura as they passed them by.</p><p>Not one of them bothered to notice the small bulge of Gura’s curled up tail beneath her traveling jacket, the spanking new Krag rifle that Ame had slung over her shoulder or the <em> avant-garde </em> paperback copy of the Jules Verne novel that Ina was thumbing through to pass the time.</p><p>That obscurity brought a small smile to Gura’s lips and she held her fishbone-shaped pendant in her hands fondly. Her Atlantean secret was still safe, it seemed.</p><p>“Looks like the <em> aviso </em> telegraphed your story word-for-word ahead of us, Ame.” Ina deduced calmly and closed her paperback book, “Half of the Bordeaux press pool climbed up here to meet Miss Lowry!”</p><p>“It’s all part of the plan, Ina.” Ame insisted with a chuckle. She then adjusted the strap of her ‘new’ Krag rifle, lifted up her two suitcases and suggested, “That’s our cue to get going.”</p><p>Ina and Gura nodded and followed suit. The three of them then walked down the gangplank without any fanfare, against the flow of the over enthusiastic journalists. However, their spirits were high and there was a proud spring in their step as they all set foot on France. After all, they were finally traveling together for the first time.</p><p>Ame led her expedition with confidence brimming in her chest. Her mind was filled with the many adventures that she and her friends would have on the European continent as they searched for the mythical Phoenix. She wondered how she would track down and confront the elusive Miss Chadwick and Captain Morrison along the way. Perhaps they could even uncover the mystery of the Cover Corporation letters while they were at it!</p><p>Her idealistic daydream and the confidence that she had built up on her way down from the Teutonic, however, slowly evaporated with every step that she took through the harbor.</p><p>All around her, on the <em> Port de Lune </em> , she saw dozens of French flags flying full-mast from the buildings of the seaport and from the myriad of ships that were anchored there. Instead of the usual crumpets, scones and English muffins that she was used to, she smelled freshly baked baguettes and brioche from the seaport’s bakeries. Hell, they weren’t even called bakeries, but ‘ <em> boulangeries’ </em>. To top it all off, just about everybody around her was speaking in French!</p><p>“Well, I’m not in England anymore…” Ame thought out loud.</p><p>For the first time since leaving London, she felt like she was finally on that adventure that she had been longing for. And yet, the poor detective’s face went pale when she came face to face with an unfortunate truth.</p><p>Amelia Watson didn’t speak a lick of French!</p><p>She was just about to panic when she remembered her new Atlantean companion - the mighty serpent-slayer. Ame figured that since Gura was an Atlantean, she probably interacted with French ships before or something. Moreover, Gura also told her that she was originally planning to start anew in France.</p><p>That surely meant that Gura knew some French.</p><p>Right?</p><p>When Ame turned to Gura, however, the disguised shark-girl was going around the harbor with pure, childlike fascination. Gura then grinned at Ame and laughed.</p><p>“Hey A-me! You hearin’ this? What in tarnation are these fellers sayin’!?”</p><p>Ame pursed her lips and grumbled beneath her breath. Gura was a Yankee through and through! After thirty years on land, she was probably more of a rootin’ tootin’ cowgirl now than an Atlantean cadet. There wasn’t a whole lot of French in West Virginia, after all.</p><p>Just as Ame was pondering about synthesizing a new Watson Concoction to help her and maybe Gura learn French quickly, Ina broke rank from their team. The aspiring librarian then calmly flagged down a horse carriage and spoke with the chauffeur in fluent French. Their entire conversation was <em> en français </em> and Ina didn’t miss a beat.</p><p>Ina then smiled brightly at her companions.</p><p>“So then, Ame. Gura.” Ina proudly ran a hand through her hair and asked, “Where are we headed?”</p><p>As expected of the daughter of the Far Eastern consul in Ottawa, Ame thought. She remembered that some of the books that Ina carried around were printed in English and in French. The detective shook herself free from her own imagination before she answered.</p><p>“Let’s go to the Bordeaux Municipal Library, Ina.” Ame proposed, “We might as well get a head start on the Lowry Expedition while we still can.”</p><p>Ina nodded and spoke with the chauffeur. However, their conversation didn’t seem to go as smoothly as before. The chauffeur then handed her a French morning newspaper and made apologetic gestures as he spoke. Once Ina skimmed through the paper, she returned it to the chauffeur and faced Ame with a frown.</p><p>“Looks like the library is closed today. They made an announcement on the morning paper about it.” Ina translated for her friends, “They’ll be open bright and early tomorrow, though!”</p><p>“A sudden closure, huh?” Ame groaned. Her eyes then turned to the small pile of luggage that she, Ina and Gura had with them and made a decision, “In that case, let’s go to the hotel. The one with the fancy name that Uncle Watson recommended.”</p><p>“<em> L'hôtel Fleur de Lune. </em>” Ina corrected kindly with a knowing smile, “Have you been slacking on your French lessons, Ame?”</p><p>Ame bashfully evaded Ina’s prying eyes and fidgeted under her gaze. Gura, on the other hand, tapped Ame’s shoulder and asked innocently.</p><p>“Hey, A-me. What’s French?”</p><p>Ina batted her eyes expectantly and waited for Ame’s response to the question, but the detective groaned.</p><p>“Let’s just go, okay?” Ame hissed.</p><p>With that, Ina gave the chauffeur their new destination. The three of them took turns loading their luggage on the back of the carriage and they set out for the <em> Fleur de Lune </em> hotel. All the while, Ame couldn’t help but feel like she and Gura were in for a long trip here in France - and that Ina quietly enjoyed watching the both of them squirm for once.</p><hr/><p>
  <b>Twenty-Ninth Scene - Suite Deals</b>
</p><p> </p><p>Ever since leaving the <em> Port de Lune </em> harbor, Ina was in incredibly high spirits. All throughout their carriage ride, she spent most of her time looking out the window and commenting on just about everything that she saw - from the distinctive crescent-moon shape of the Gironde River’s bends that gave the <em> Port de Lune </em> its name to the sprawl of petite brick buildings with tiny chimneys around the harbor.</p><p>Ame and Gura couldn’t help but smile as they watched and listened to the librarian’s immersive commentary. All the while, the three of them helped themselves to leftover sandwiches that Gura had prepared in the Teutonic’s galley before they left. Once they had finished their snack, the horse carriage started climbing up a small hill on its final approach to the hotel.</p><p>While the carriage climbed up the hill, the wrought iron fence, the well-manicured courtyard and the newly-painted stucco facade of the <em> Fleur de Lune </em> hotel came into view. It was a vast two-story mansion compound built in the old French colonial style with steep hipped roofs adorned with dormers. Ina dutifully pointed out those details and how they reminded her of her short vacations in Quebec City when she was younger.</p><p>“Wow, this place is fancy!” Gura commented with wide eyes, “I thought you guys had a small budget for this trip!”</p><p>“My uncle Watson pulled some strings for us to get us on the guestbook here.” Ame explained with a small smile, “This place is actually pretty affordable compared to the other places in Bordeaux since most of the rooms are pretty small. Still, it gets filled up pretty quick!”</p><p>“Hoh… is that so?” Gura mused.</p><p>Ina then wiped her lips with a napkin before she chimed in.</p><p>“There is a little problem with our arrangement now, though. Dr. Watson arranged for a small room with two beds.” Her eyes then stole a glance of Gura then added, “We weren’t exactly expecting a third member in this expedition.”</p><p>Gura pouted at the quick jab. She then brought out her purse overstuffed with British threepence coins.</p><p>“I can pay for an extra bed or something.” Gura offered.</p><p>Ina then shook her head and her expression suddenly brightened again.</p><p>“Don’t worry about it, Gura.” Ina beamed confidently, “I’ve got an idea. I’ll get the concierge to prepare a bigger room for us.</p><p>“Well, if you think it’s worth a shot.” Ame agreed and rubbed her chin. She then turned to Ina and asked, “So what do you need me and Gura to do?”</p><p>Ina looked up to the ceiling of the carriage and hummed.</p><p>“Well, first and foremost, we will need Gura to stay in the lobby for a while and watch our luggage. Oh! And I’ll need Ame to come with me to the concierge! <em> Humu humu </em>.”</p><p>Ame and Gura turned to each other and wondered what the multilingual Ina was thinking. However, with practically zero French between them, neither of them really had a choice in the matter and they agreed to Ina’s terms.</p><p>Before long, they reached the front of the hotel and disembarked from the carriage. Ina helped Ame pay the chauffeur with a traveler’s check and then helped Gura negotiate with the porters to bring their luggage into the hotel lobby. Once those things were settled, Ame and Ina went over to negotiate their lodgings.</p><p>At the concierge, Ina took control of the conversation once again. Ame saw how impressed the concierge staff were with Ina’s French and the librarian took it in stride. Ina seemed to glow as she talked and smiled and worked out a deal with the hotel. The detective didn’t understand most of it, but she couldn’t help but smile.</p><p>Ina was finally breaking out of her shell, after all. The librarian had gone a long way from the timid, guarded bookworm that she met in the foyer of Dr. Watson’s medical practice. Ina was blossoming before her very eyes and Ame liked what she saw.</p><p>That was when Ame heard something suspicious escape from the librarian’s lips.</p><p>“<em> Ah! Humu humu. C’est mon nouveau mari! Amelia Watson! Elle est très magnifique! </em>”</p><p>Ame did slack off on her French classes, yes, but some of Ina’s words troubled her a little bit - especially the ones that were relatively close to English. More than that, she knew Ina tended to say ‘<em> humu humu </em>’ whenever she got excited or pleased or sneaky about something.</p><p>It put Ame on edge.</p><p>The concierge staff then turned to Ame as if waiting for a response to Ina’s comment. So, she nodded stiffly. She didn’t know what else to say - or which language to say it in. When Ame halfheartedly confirmed whatever the heck Ina was saying, however, the concierge staff smiled and looked like they were going to cry tears of joy.</p><p>Ina then gestured to Gura in the lobby and added <em>en</em> <em>français</em> once more.</p><p>“<em> Nous avons une fille aussi! Gawr Gura </em> . <em> Très mignon, oui? </em>”</p><p>When Ina said this, Ame could swear that the staff started gushing over Gura and calling her cute. Probably.</p><p>At this point, Ame’s curiosity boiled over.</p><p>“Hey Ina.” The detective leaned over and whispered, “What the heck is going on!?”</p><p>“I got us a huge discount and an upgrade to boot, Ame. I made us a… suite deal!” Ina placed her hands together and smiled proudly. Her cheeks then flushed red before she revealed, “We’re going to a bigger honeymoon suite!”</p><p>“A honeymoon suite!?” Ame gasped, blushing beet red as well.</p><p>“Humu humu. A honeymoon suite. We’ll get access to all the amenities of the hotel too! All according to plan!” Ina happily confirmed. She then bravely took Ame’s hands in hers and explained, “I told them that we’re a newlywed couple and that Gura is our daughter. Adopted, but still our daughter~!”</p><p>Ame’s cheeks felt warmer and she gasped, “The staff bought that story!?”</p><p>While Ame was speaking, one of the concierge staff - a pretty blond with bob-cut hair and kindly ash green eyes - picked up a handful of bonbons from the concierge counter display bowls and proceeded to offer them to Gura. The Atlantean-in-disguise looked offended at first that she was offered candies like some sort of child - but she eventually pouted and politely asked for two pieces.</p><p>Even Gura accepted her fate!</p><p>Still dumbfounded, Ame scratched the back of her head and commented.</p><p>“You can be pretty scary sometimes, Ina.” Ame then smirked and added, “Not in a bad way though, <em> wifey </em>.”</p><p>Ina’s smile then grew warmer. She then joyfully replied.</p><p>“I’ll take that as a compliment, <em> mon ami </em>~!”</p><hr/><p>
  <b>Thirtieth Scene - The Watson Grand Prix</b>
</p><p> </p><p>Later that afternoon, on the lawn tennis courts of the <em> Fleur de Lune </em> hotel, Gura’s jaw dropped from disbelief.</p><p>“You told them WHAT!?” Gura burst out all of the sudden. Her voice echoed throughout the courts. A tennis ball likewise slipped from the disguised Atlantean’s left hand, but she caught it before it bounced twice. She then pointed a tennis racket at Ina, wore a sour expression and accused, “Oy, you’re not still mad about me and Ame on the Portsmouth train are ya?”</p><p>“Whatsoever are you talking about, my dearest ‘daughter’ Gura?” Ina answered mischievously. The librarian hoisted herself up onto the umpire’s chair and shugged, feigning innocence, “I just did what I had to do to secure our lodgings. Unless you want to sleep in the swimming pool or something? That can be arranged too!”</p><p>“I would have done just fine in a smaller room!” Gura pouted, stomping her poorly-tied rental tennis shoes on the trimmed grass of the court, “I don’t mind sleeping on the sofa! Or better yet, I could share a bed with Ame!”</p><p>“Hah! As if I’d ever let you do that!” Ina scoffed. She then whispered beneath her breath, “Plus… I also want Ame to hug me too…”</p><p>Before Gura could retort once again, Ame appeared on the other side of the court wearing a breezy tennis shirt with matching shorts and shoes. She skillfully whirled a tennis racket of her own in her right hand and made her way to the net at the center. Ame then rested her racket on her shoulder.</p><p>“Sorry to keep you waiting.” Ame apologized. She then tugged on the collar of her tennis shirt and explained, “I had to find a shirt that wasn’t tight around the chest, you see!”</p><p>At this point, Gura and Ina looked at their own tennis shirts and grumbled. The Atlantean and the librarian quietly made a truce and glared at Ame. Their glares made Ame snicker devilishly.</p><p>The detective relished her companions’ frustration before she apologized a second time.</p><p>“Just kidding, you two! Just kidding.” She then swung the tennis racket through the air and asked, “So what are we playing for today?”</p><p>Gura and Ina then went deadly serious and answered at the same time.</p><p>“Winner gets to share the big bed with you tonight, Ame!”</p><p>“Huh…!?” Ame gasped, “Seriously!?”</p><p>Ina then hopped off of the tall umpire’s chair, nearly stumbling while doing so, and then extended her hand towards Ame.</p><p>“Give me your racket, please. You can be the umpire, Ame.”</p><p>“Hurry up, Ame! I want to settle this!” Gura prodded too, “Let’s goooooo!”</p><p>Neither the shark-girl nor the librarian seemed to be willing to take ‘no’ for an answer.</p><p>“When did the two of you get so close?” Ame sighed.</p><p>“We’re not close!” Ina and Gura answered in absolutely perfect sync.</p><p>“Right…” Ame’s eyes narrowed with suspicion.</p><p>Regardless, the detective handed Ina her racket and climbed up to the umpire’s seat. She presided over the impromptu tennis match between Ina and Gura. They tossed a threepence coin and decided that Ina would serve first.</p><p>The librarian wielded her racket with surprisingly good form while Gura hopped gamely to the left and right in anticipation. Then, when Ina served towards Gura’s right, the overeager Atlantean went to her left!</p><p>“What the…!?” Gura gasped, realizing her mistake.</p><p>“Fifteen-love!” Ame announced.</p><p>Ina snickered mischievously and twirled her racket confidently. She then looked Gura’s way with a smug smirk. Gura puffed her cheeks, retrieved the ball and threw it back towards Ina with a frown.</p><p>When Ina set up her next service, Gura made sure that she was ready. She mustered up all her concentration and watched the ball closely. Then, when Ina served, Gura guessed correctly and smashed the ball back over the net with her superhuman strength!</p><p>The tennis ball whizzed past Ina and barely missed her, but the librarian just calmly enjoyed the gust of wind blowing through her hair.</p><p>Gura cheered loudly and danced on the court before she turned towards Ame expectantly, hoping for some praise. Her jaw then dropped when Ame read out the cards.</p><p>“Thirty-love...” Ame reported apologetically, “Try to keep it within bounds, Gura.”</p><p>“Oh, come on!” Gura complained, but Ame remained firm. She swung her racket wildly and hissed, “Hrgh, fine!”</p><p>Spurred by the challenge, Gura got back to her side of the court and prepared herself once more. Third time turned out to be the charm for her as she managed to answer Ina’s serve and keep it within bounds. They had their first back-and-forth rally and it was quite a sight to behold!</p><p>Ina’s graceful, albeit calculated movements were perfect foils of Gura’s wild yet steadfast strength. Every rally they had was ferocious and sometimes lasted for minutes at a time. The Atlantean and the librarian traded the lead so many times along the way. Ame, who was engrossed in the match, barely managed to keep track of the score.</p><p>At the end of it all, Gura won one set and Ina won two. The librarian somehow managed to outlast the Atlantean and win the match, but the two of them were never more than a swing away from victory.</p><p>Despite conserving her energy with her tactics and strategies, the burst of exercise knocked the wind out of Ina’s sails. The librarian dropped her racket and laid down spread eagle on the trimmed grass of the tennis court. She was panting heavily, exhausted by the do-or-die match with the headstrong and stubborn Gura.</p><p>However, there was a smile etched on her lips as she caught her breath. That was the first time she had this much fun playing tennis. It was almost as much fun as the time she taught Ame how to play chess in London.</p><p>Ina rested her now sore racket arm over her sweat-drenched forehead to shield her eyes from the sun. Then, the petite figure of Gura appeared and towered over her. The Atlantean looked rather sad that she lost, but she wasn’t as salty as she was on her first loss.</p><p>“Well played, Ina.” Gura said politely. She offered a hand to the victor, “You’re much tougher than you look. A little sneaky - but pretty damn tough.”</p><p>“Heh, thanks.” The librarian took a deep breath and answered back, “You’re a pretty fast... learner yourself, Gura. I’m impressed. Really.”</p><p>With that, she took Gura’s hand and let the Atlantean help her back up onto her feet. Ina then looked into Gura’s eyes and spoke between her heavy breaths.</p><p>“Say, Gura…” Ina proposed between gasps, “The honeymoon suite bed… is pretty big. The three of us… can probably share it.”</p><p>“You know… I was just thinking the same thing.” Gura concurred with a smile, “Deal!”</p><p>Moments later, Ame arrived on the scene as well and asked.</p><p>“H-hey, don’t I get a say in the matter?”</p><p>Ina and Gura then each latched onto one of Ame’s arms and answered in perfect sync.</p><p>“Nope~!”</p><p>Ame scoffed and repeated the question that had been on her mind all that time.</p><p>When did these two get so close?</p><p>Whatever it was, Ame was glad. In that moment, the smiles of these two girls were all that mattered to her.</p><hr/><p>
  <b>Epilogue</b>
</p><p> </p><p>Evening came to Bordeaux and draped the opulent yet rustic space of the <em> Fleur de Lune </em> hotel in the darkness of the night. The hotel’s many electrical lights turned on section by section - from the lamps on the outer gates and gardens to the sconces on the countryside mansion’s facade to the grand chandelier of the <em> al fresco </em>, open-air dining hall. That was the signal for dinner service to finally begin.</p><p>Amelia Watson, flanked by her ‘wife’ Ina’nis Ninomae and her overly affectionate ‘daughter’ Gawr Gura, sat at the dining hall and had trouble eating her own food - especially when Ina and Gura took turns feeding the detective. The three of them were wearing fresh changes of clothes, but Ame was constantly afraid that she might get some of Gura's juicy steak or some of Ina's saucy roasted eggplants on her blouse.</p><p>On the sidelines of the hotel dining hall, one of the concierge staff watched the girls of the Watson Expedition goof off together. It was the same blond lady with bob-cut hair and ash green eyes that gave Gura the bonbons in the lobby earlier. She leaned against the columns of the dining hall and smiled as she watched the antics of the three girls from afar.</p><p>While she was watching the girls, however, another concierge staff mosied over to the lady and handed her a strip of paper.</p><p>"<em>Télégraphe pour vous,</em> <em>directeur!”</em> The staff member said.</p><p>“<em> Ah, merci </em>.” The lady answered back, sending the staffer back to his post.</p><p>She then took the strip of paper and read it under the light of the chandelier.</p><p>It was in Morse Code.</p><p>-.- -....- -.- -....- .-. -....- -.- -....-</p><p>A frown formed on the lady’s lips. She then excused herself from the dining hall and walked out into the well-lit courtyard of the hotel. Once she was far away from the crowds of guests and staff, she looked up to the starry night sky and the half-moon floating above her, incomplete.</p><p>The lady then whispered to no one in particular.</p><p>“What would you do in this situation, <em> senpai </em>?”</p><p>
  <b>To Be Continued</b>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>So, a friend and I are getting competitive on Duolingo recently lol. We're learning JP/FR/ES and trying to rank up on the Duolingo leagues lol. It's a lot more stressful than I thought - but at least I could use a bit of the FR for this leg of Ame's adventure!</p><p>The title of this chapter comes from the song "L'Homme Que J'adore" by Allison Adams Tucker from the Saboteur soundtrack. It's a cool song, go check it out~! Sadly, Ame, Ina and Gura won't be planting explosives to sabotage the German occupation of France in WW2 or anything, but this song captures the mood I felt for this chapter. The three girls can catch their breath a bit after their ordeal on the Teutonic!</p><p>The Teutonic Arc is over - and the France arc is finally underway!</p><p>For you technical folks, the French aviso gunboat is based on a Spanish colonial aviso. The Marques del Duero - which was built in France anyways, so yeah. That aviso was smaller, roughly one-fifth of the Teutonic in length and had a 6.4-inch gun, two 4.7-inch guns and a machine gun. It would have done remarkably well against the Sea Serpent, but the serpent doesn't care about French avisos. It wanted to sink the Teutonic hehe.</p><p>Amelia Watson and Ophelia Watson share a bit of a history. They even share the same middle name. I imagine them as distant relatives. The Lowries were blessed with wealth but the Watsons were blessed with talent. Ame and Ophelia were probably close once, but their family rivalries became personal ones and they drifted apart while growing up. That's why, even if they hate each other's guts, they can still get on the same wavelength in a pinch.</p><p>Also, yes, Ophelia isn't half bad when she isn't trying to kill Ame XD</p><p>The Port de Lune in Bordeaux, France is a wonderful place. Had to do a bit of research though to see what it was like in the Victorian Era - and I may have played a bit too much Crusader Kings 3 and invaded Bordeaux and Aquitaine many times over XD but that's beyond the point!</p><p>The Jules Verne novel that Ina was reading? 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea.</p><p>Gura is a cowgirl through and through. She only knows Dutch. The character lol. Also, while she does have a head of bone, she has a heart of gold!</p><p>The Bordeaux Municipal Library is a curious place to track down. Apparently, it was an old public library that had to be shut down and moved to a monastery somewhere to avoid censorship during the French Revolution. At this time period, it should still roughly be the monastery setting, so that's where Ame, Gura and Ina are going to bright and early soon!</p><p>After the three of them cuddle together on the big bed~</p><p>Having Gura and Ina fight for Ame's attention was pretty fun~! Also, having Ina be in the position of advantage over Ame and Gura was fun too! Ina isn't afraid to be in the spotlight - and she is blossoming before Ame's eyes indeed!</p><p>I was tempted to have Gura and Ina play chess instead of tennis, but that would have... taken a long time to get traction, game-wise lol. I also decided to do tennis because of that Gura-and-Ame-playing-tennis-on-Ina's-forehead fanart I saw on twitter XD. I liked it hehehe.</p><p>That's all my commentary for now!</p><p>You can follow me for updates on AlterMyth and other Hololive stuff on Twitter: SkkElias</p><p>For now, au revoir~!</p>
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